MAD  AN'S 


-MERiC.'  S  EDITION, 


^  ADDISON  ALEXANDER  LIBRARY  £ 
which  was  presented  by  /jV 

Messrs-  R.  L.  and  A.  Stuart.  If 


ase.  Di»iyon.. P/4.6.447f 

j.  'S7""/- Section. 


Book,, 

n, 'No* .  __  ; 

5  of  a<r — -X?  v»> .»  £ 


s 


.  '  <• 


♦ 

I* 

m 


.  ■ 


V  > 


.*  *■+ 


.  * 


r) 


T  * 

'  . 

*  f<  ^  ■  , 

I  .  »r 

■  \W  ^ 


- i, '  * 

'  ‘ 

* 

’  *  V 


•  '  ■ 


•  ...  . 

4i 


!•* 


* 


‘  P 


I 


»  « 


,f  ■: 


.  .4 


jf  ^  * 


%  * 
V 


•De-c. 


\rmA-. 


an  las 


u.  </  >2.  'n  o.  I  \ 


JUVENAL  AND  PERSEUS; 


LITERALLY  TRANSLATED, 


BY  THE  KEY.  M.  MADAN. 


Ardet...Instat...Aperte  jugulat. 

Scal.  in  Jdv. 


IN  ONE  VOLUME. 


A 


PRINCETON:  GEORGE  THOMPSON. 


1850. 


f  '  * 


•  V 
* 


*«r 


« 


n 


* 


'  X 


r  . 


*  r  , 


*  / 


*V  .+ 


‘  * 


\ 


■ 


'  -  >' 

.  w  *  •  *7* 

k’  *• 

*  *  ,.  « 

• ...  *. 


•> 

; 


.4 

.•  * 


A  * 

-  •  *  •  .»* 

,  . ».  ■ 

•' 

.  • 

*  . 


’  ,  •  t  >  i  "• 

1 .  '  •*  .  '  .  ' 


. 

/  •  ->*  * 

V  V-. 

Jr  • 


% 


•*  i 

* 


.  f  '  *•  ■- 

•■*«>  ►  ,  •  i  >■ 

•  a 


■ 

y  *  *.  4-  *  <• 

...  'i  if  t  *f  *. 

-■it-  «•» 


•  *  1  >«.-■  * 


* 

.  ■  •  t;  "v 

*.  '*■ 


#w* 

..  1  * 


V  ••  •  ..  . 

'  4. 


*  » 


,?W  **•  r  .-»•  *  ?  ■  * 

;  ■*.  ■  <  \  .  V  *  •  •  • 

.  v  ,  •  » V  f  *" 

.  "  •-  -V 


M  •  •  **  » 

-  <  *  -v 


•  ‘"Km 


*  \ 


f*  .  •  f 

•  »  « 

■  ■-  - 

•  ■  , 

**  » 


,  .V  •  * 


•  • 


'  ‘  >t  \ 


*  *-  ••  »  « 

'  -  ■,  •  .  •:* 


■  _  »  •  * 


*  rv 


.« 

V* 


<  ’ 

.  ►  .  <  ■  <  V 


.  4 


•  m  ■* 

.  >.*  -  -  , 

■■  •  .■  ■ 


«  . 


*r 


. 


t  . 


*  V 


’ 

*  *.'■  . 
*.  *  -  \i 


>  ' 

'  »; ' '  r 

.  .  ••  ■  -  ■  ■» 


-.4 


.*  y 


: 


4. 


r 


PREFACE  TO  JUVENAL. 


Decimus  Junius  Juvenal  was  born  at  Aquinum,  a  town  of 
the  Yolsci,  a  people  of  Latium :  hence,  from  the  place  of  his 
birth,  he  was  called  Aquinas.  It  is  not  certain  whether  he  was 
the  son,  or  foster-child,  of  a  rich  freedman.  He  had  a  learned 
education,  and  in  the  time  of  Claudius  Nero,  pleaded  causes 
with  great  reputation.  About  his  middle  age  he  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  Poetry ;  and,  as  he  saw  a  daily  increase  of  vice 
and  folly,  he  addicted  himself  to  writing  Satire :  but,  having 
said  something  (sat.  vii.  1.  88 — 92,)  which  was  deemed  a  reflec¬ 
tion  on  Paris  the  actor,  a  minion  of  Domitian’s,  he  was  banished 
into  Egypt,  at  ^eighty  years  of  age,  under  pretence  of  sending 
him  as  captain  of  a  company  of  soldiers.  This  was  looked 
upon  as  a  sort  of  humourous  punishment  for  what  he  had  said, 
in  making  Paris  the  bestower  of  posts  in  the  army. 

However,  Domitian  dying  soon  after,  Juvenal  returned  to 
Rome,  and  is  said  to  have  lived  there  to  the  timesf  of  Nerva  and 
Trajan.  At  last,  worn  out  with  old  age,  he  expired  in  a  fit  of 
coughing. 

He  was  a  man  of  excellent  morals,  of  an  elegant  taste  and 
judgment,  a  fast  friend  to  virtue,  and  an  irreconcilable  enemy  to 
vice  in  every  shape. 

As  a  writer,  his  style  is  unrivalled,  in  point  of  elegance  and 
beauty,  by  any  Satirist  that  we  are  acquainted  with,  Horace 
not  excepted.  The  plainness  of  his  expressions  are  derived 
from  the  honesty  and  integrity  of  his  own  mind :  his  great  aim 
was,  “  to  hold,  as  it  were,  the  mirror  up  to  nature ;  to  shew 
virtue  her  own  feature,  scorn  her  own  image,  and  the  very  age 
and  body  of  the  time  his  form  and  pressure/'!  He  meant  not, 
therefore,  to  corrupt  the  mind,  by  openly  describing  the  lewd 
practices  of  his  countrymen,  but  to  remove  every  veil,  even  of 
language  itself,  which  could  soften  the  features,  or  hide  the  full 
deformity  of  vice  from*  the  observation  of  his  readers,  and  thus 
to  strike  the  mind  with  due  abhorrence  of  what  he  censures. 

*  Quanquam  Octogenarius.  Marshall,  in  Vit.  Jar. 

|  Ibique  ad  Neryae  et  Trajani  tempora  supervixisse  did  tar,  Marshall,  ib. 

i  Hamlet,  act  iii.  sc.  2. 


4 


PREFACE. 


All  this  is  done  in  so  masterly  a  way  as  to  render  him  well 
worthy  Scaliger’s  encomium,  when  he  styles  him  Omnium  Sa- 
tyricorum  facile  Princeps.  He  was  much  loved  and  respected 
by  Martial.*  Quintilian  speaks  of  him,  Inst.  Orat.  lib.  x.  as 
the  chief  of  Satirists.  Ammianus  Marcellinus  says, I  that  some 
who  did  detest  learning,  did,  notwithstanding,  in  their  most 
profound  retiredness,  diligently  employ  themselves  in  his  works. 

The  attentive  reader  of  Juvenal  may  see,  as  in  a  glass,  a 
true  portraiture  of  the  Roman  manners  in  his  time :  he  may 
see,  drawn  to  the  life  a  people  sunk  in  sloth,  luxury,  and  de¬ 
bauchery,  and  exhibiting  to  us  the  sad  condition  of  human 
nature,  when  untaught  by  divine  truth,  and  uninfluenced  by  a 
divine  principle.  However  polite  and  refined  this  people  was, 
with  respect  to  the  cultivation  of  letters,  arts,  and  sciences,  be¬ 
yond  the  most  barbarous  nation,  yet,  as  to  the  true  Knowledge 
of  God,  they  were  upon  a  footing  with  the  most  uninformed  of 
their  cotemporaries,  and  consequently  were,  equally  with  them, 
sunk  into  all  manner  of  wickedness  and  abomination.  The 
description  of  the  Gentiles  in  general,  by  St.  Paul,  Rom.  i.  19 — 32. 
is  fully  verified  as  to  the  Romans  in  particular. 

Juvenal  may  be  look  upon  as  one  of  those  rare  meteors,  which 
shone  forth  even  in  the  darkness  of  Heathenism.  The  mind 
and  conscience  of  this  great  man  were,  though  from  J  whence 
he  knew  not,  so  far  enlightened,  as  to  perceive  the  ugliness  of 
vice,  and  so  influenced  with  a  desire  to  reform  it,  as  to  make 
him,  according  to  the  light  he  had,  a  severe  and  able  reprover, 
a  powerful  and  diligent  witness  against  the  vices  and  follies  of 
the  people  among  which  he  lived  ;  and,  indeed,  against  all  who, 
like  them,  give  a  loose  to  their  depraved  appetites,  as  if  there 
were  no  other  liberty  to  be  sought  after  but  the  most  unrestrain¬ 
ed  indulgence  of  vicious  pleasures  and  gratifications. 

How  far  Rome-Christian,  possessed  of  divine  revelation,  is 
better  than  H  lat  heu-Rome  without  it,  is  not  for  me  to  deter¬ 
mine:  but  I  fear,  that  the  perusal  of  Juvenal  will  furnish  us 
with  too  serious  a  reason  to  observe,  that  not  only  modern  Rome, 
hut  every  metropolis  in  the  Christian  world,  as  to  the  generality 
of  its  manners  and  pursuits,  bears  a  most  unhappy  resemblance 
to  the  objects  of  the  following  Satires.  They  are,  therefore, 
too  applicable  to  the  times  in  which  we  live,  and,  in  that  view, 
if  righ'ly  understood,  may,  perhaps,  be^  serviceable  to  many, 
who  will  not  come  within  the  reach  of  higher  instruction. 

Bishop  Burnet  observes,  that  the  “satirical  poets,  Horace, 

*  See  Maht.  lib.  vii.  epig.  24.  -j-  Hist.  lib.  xxviii, 

*  Rom.  ii.  15.  Comp.  Is.  xlv.  5.  See  eat  x.  1.  363. 


PREFACE. 


5 


“  Juvenal,  and  Persius,  may  contribute  wonderfully  to  give  a 
"  man  a  detestation  of  vice,  and  a  contempt  of  the  common 
“  methods  of  mankind ;  which  they  have  set  out  in  such  true 
“colours,  that  they  must  give  a  very  generous  sense  to  those 
“  who  delight  in  reading  them  often.”  Past.  Care,  c.  vii. 

This  translation  was  begun  some  year  ago,  at  hours  of  leis¬ 
ure,  for  the  Editor’s  own  amusement:  when,  on  adding  the 
notes  as  he  went  along,  he  found  it  useful  to  himself,  he  began 
to  think  that  it  might  be  so  to  others,  if  pursued  to  the  end  on 
the  same  plan.  The  work  was  carried  on,  till  it  increased  to  a 
considerable  bulk.  The  edition  of  Persius  enlarged  it  to  its 
present  size,  in  which  it  appears  in  print,  with  a  design  to  add 
its  assistance  in  explaning  these  difficult  authors  not  only  to 
school-boys  and  young  beginners,  but  to  numbers  in  a  more 
advanced  age,  who,  by  having  been  thrown  into  various  scenes 
of  life,  remote  from  classical  improvement,  have  so  far  forgotten 
their  Latin,  as  to  render  these  elegant  and  instructive  remains 
of  antiquity  almost  inaccessible  to  their  comprehension,  howev¬ 
er  desirous  they  may  be  to  renew  their  acquaintance  with  them. 

As  to  the  old  objection,  that  translations  of  the  Classics  tend 
to  make  boys  idle,  this  can  never  happen  but  through  the  fault 
of  the  master,  in  not  properly  watching  over  the  method  of 
their  studies.  A  master  should  never  suffer  a  boy  to  construe 
his  lesson  in  the  school,  but  from  the  Latin  by  itself,  nor  with¬ 
out  making  the  boy  parse,  and  give  an  account  of  every  neces¬ 
sary  word ;  this  will  drive  him  to  his  grammar  and  dictionary , 
near  as  much  as  if  he  had  no  translation  at  all  :  but  in  private, 
when  the  boy  is  preparing  his  lesson,  a  literal  translation,  and 
explanatory  notes,  so  facilitate  the  right  comprehension  and  un¬ 
derstanding  of  the  author’s  language,  meaning,  and  design,  as 
to  imprint  them  with  ease  on  the  learner’s  mind,  to  form  his 
taste,  and  to  enable  him  not  only  to  construe  and  explain,  but 
to  get  those  portions  of  the  author  by  heart,  which  he  is  at  cer¬ 
tain  periods  to  repeat  at  school,  and  which,  if  judiciously  se¬ 
lected,  he  may  find  useful,  as  well  as  ornamental  to  him,  all  his 
life. 

To  this  end  I  have  considered  that  there  are  three  purposes 
to  be  answered.  First,  that  the  reader  should  know  what  the 
author  says;  this  can  only  be  attained  by  ^literal  translation: 
as  for  poetical  versions,  which  are  so  often  miscalled  translations, 
paraphrases,  and  the  like,  they  are  but  ill  calculated  for  this 
fundamental  and  necessary  purpose. 

*  I  trust  that  I  shall  not  be  reckoned  guilty  of  inconsistency,  if  in  some  few 
passages  I  have  made  use  of  paraphrases,  which  I  have  so  studiously  avoided 
through  the  rest  of  the  work,  because  the  literal  sense  of  these  is  better  obscured 
than  explained,  especially  to  young  minds. 


6 


PREFACE. 


They  remind  one  of  a  performer  on  a  musical  instrument, 
who  shews  his  skill  by  playing  over  a  piece  of  music  with  so 
many  variations,  as  to  disguise  almost  entirely  the  original  sim¬ 
ple  melody,  insomuch  that  the  hearers  depart  as  ignoranf  of  the 
composer  as  they  came. 

All  translators  should  transfer  to  themselves  the  directions 
which  our  Shakspeare  gives  to  actors,  at  least,  if  they  mean  to 
assist  the  student,  by  helping  him  to  the  construction,  that  he 
may  understand  the  language  of  the  author.  As  the  actor  is 
not  “  to  o’erstep  the  modesty  of  nature  so  a  translator  is  not 
to  o’erstep  the  simplicity  of  the  text.  As  an  actor  is  “not  to 
speak  more  than  is  set  down  for  him;”  so  a  translator  is  not  to 
exercise  his  own  fancy,  and  let  it  loose  into  phrases  and  expres¬ 
sions,  which  are  totally  foreign  from  those  of  the  author.  He 
should  therefore  sacrifice  vanity  to  usefulness,  and  forego  the 
praise  of  elegant  writing,  for  the  utility  of  faithful  translation. 

The  next  thing  to  be  considered,  after  knowing  ivhat  the  au¬ 
thor  says,  is  how  he  says  it :  this  can  only  be  learnt  from  the 
original  itself,  to  which  I  refer  the  reader,  by  printing  the  Latin 
line  for  line,  opposite  to  the  English,  and,  as  the  lines  are  num¬ 
bered,  the  eye  will  readily  pass  from  the  one  to  the  other.  The 
information  which  has  been  received  from  the  translation,  will 
readily  assist  in  the  grammatical  construction. 

The  third  particular,  without  which  the  reader  would  fall 
very  short  of  understanding  the  author,  is  to  know  ivhat  he 
means  ;  to  explain  this  is  the  intention  of  the  notes,  for  many 
of  which  I  gratefully  acknowledge  myself  chiefly  indebted  to 
various  learned  commentators,  but  who,  having  written  in  Latin, 
are  almost  out  of  the  reach  of  those  for  whom  this  work  is 
principally  intended.  Here  and  there  I  have  selected  some 
notes  from  English  writers:  this  indeed  the  student  might  have 
done  for  himself ;  but  I  hope  he  will  not  take  it  amiss,  that  I 
have  brought  so  many  different  commentators  into  one  view, 
and  saved  much  trouble  to  him,  at  the  expence  of  my  own 
labour.  The  rest  of  the  notes,  and  those  no  inconsiderable  num¬ 
ber,  perhaps  the  most,  are  my  own,  by  which,  if  I  have  been 
happy  enough  to  supply  any  deficiencies  of  others,  I  shall  be 
glad. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  am,  from  long  observation,  most  perfectly 
convinced,  that  the  early  disgust,  which,  in  too  many  instances, 
youth  is  apt  to  conceive  against  classical  learning  (so  that  the 
school-time  is  passed  in  a  state  of  *  labour  and  sorrow),  arises 

*  “  The  books  that  we  learn  at  school  ar«  generally  laid  aside,  with  this  preju" 
«  dice,  that  they  were  the  labours  as  well  as  the  sorrows  of  our  childhood  and  edu* 


,  PREFACE,  7 

mostly  from  the  crabbed  and  difficult  method  of  instruction, 
which  are  too  often  imposed  upon  them ;  and  that  therefore  all 
attempts  to  reduce  the  number  of  the  difficulties,  which,  like 
so  many  thorns,  are  laid  in  their  way,  and  to*  render  the  paths 
of  instruction  pleasant  and  easy,  will  encourage  and  invite 
their  attention,  even  to  the  study  of  the  most  difficult  authors, 
among  the  foremost  of  which  we  may  rank  Juvenal  and  Per- 
sius.  Should  the  present  publication  be  found  to  answer  this 
end,  not  only  to  schoolboys,  but  to  those  also  who  would  be 
glad  to  recover  such  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  Latin  tongue, 
as  to  encourage  the  renewal  of  thteir  acquaintance  with  the 
Classics,  (whose  writtings  so  richly  contribute  to  ornament  the 
higher  and  more  polished  walks  in  life,  and  which  none  but  the 
ignorant  and  tasteless  can  undervalue,)  it  will  afford  the  Editor 
an  additional  satisfaction.  Sill  more,  if  it  prove  useful  to 
foreigners ;  such  I  mean  as  are  acquainted  with  the  Latin,  and 
wish  to  be  helped  in  their  study  of  the  English  language, 
which  is  now  so  much  cultivated  in  many  parts  of  Eu¬ 
rope. 

The  religious  reader  will  observe,  that  God,  who  “  in  times 
past  suffered  f  all  the  nations  (tfco/Tcj)  <ra  sAvy,  i.  e.  all  the  heath- 
en)  to  walk  in  their  own  ways,  nevertheless  left  not  himself 
without  witness,”  not  only  by  the  outward  manifestations  of  his 
power  and  goodness,  in  the  works  of  creation  and  providence  f 
but  by  men  also,  who  in  their  several  generations,  have  so  far 
shewn  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts ,  ||  as  to  bear 
testimony  against  the  unrighteousness  of  the  world  in  which 
they  lived.  Hence  we  find  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
Acts  xvii.  28,  quoting  a  passage  from  his  countryman,  Aratus  of 
Cilicia,  against  idolatry,  or  imagining  there  be  gods  made  with 
hands.  We  find  the  same  apostle  §  reproving  the  vices  of  lying 
and  gluttony  in  the  Cretans,  by  a  quotation  from  the  Cretan 
poet  Epimenides,  whom  he  calls  u  a  prophet  of  their  own,”  for 
they  accounted  their  poets  writers  of  divine  oracles.  Let  this 
teach  us  to  distinguish  between  the  use  and  abuse  of  classical 
knowledge,  when  it  tends  to  inform  the  judgment,  to  refine  the 
manners,  and  to  embellish  the  conversation ;  when  it  keeps  a 
due  subordination  to  that  which  is  divine,  makes  us  truly 

“  cation ;  but  they  are  among  the  best  of  book* :  the  Greek  and  Roman  authors 
“  have  a  spirit  in  them,  a  force  both  of  thought  and  expression,  that  later  ages 
“  have  not  been  able  to  imitate.”  Bp.  Burnet,  Past.  Care,  cap.  vii. 

*  Quod  enim  munus  republic®  affere  majus,  meliusve  possumus,  quam  si 
docemus  atque  erudimus  juventutem  ?  Cic.  de  Bivin.  lib.  ii.  2. 
f  See  Whitby  on  Act«  xiv.  16.  t  Comp.  Rom.  i.  19,  20.  with  Acts  xi%  17, 

|  See  Rom.  ii.  16.  4  Tit.  i,  12. 


8 


PREFACE. 


thankful  of  the  superior  light  of  God’s  infallible  word,  and. 
teaches  us  how  little  can  be  truly  known*  by  the  wisest  of  men, 
without  a  divine  revelation ;  then  it  has  its  use  :  still  more,  if 
it  awakens  in  us  a  jealousy  over  ourselves,  that  we  duly  im¬ 
prove  the  superior  light  with  which  we  are  blessed,  lest  the 
very  heathen  rise  in  judgment  against  us.t  If,  on  the  contrary, 
it  tends  to  make  us  proud,  vain,  and  conceited,  to  rest  in  its 
attainments  as  the  summit  of  wisdom  and  knowledge ;  if  it 
contributes  to  harden  the  mind  against  superior  information,  or 
fills  it  with  that  sour  pedantry  which  leads  to  the  contempt  of 
others ;  then  I  will  readily  allow,  that  all  our  learning  is  but 
“ splendid  ignorance  and  pompous  folly” 

*  1  Cor.  i.  20,  21.  f  Luke  xii.  47,  48. 


[We  have  given  the  whole  of  the  Translator’s  Preface,  al¬ 
though  we  have  omitted  his  Notes,  and  the  original.  This 
selection  is  intended  for  students,  who  have  copies  of  the  origi¬ 
nal  Latin,  and  who  are  not  so  much  concerned  with  the  manners 
or  habits  of  the  Romans,  as  with  a  literal  rendering  of  the 
original] 


TH  E 


SATIRES  OF  JUVENAL. 


SATIRE  I. 


ARGUMENT. 

Juvenal  begins  this  satire  with  giving  some  humorous  reasons  for  his  writ¬ 
ing  ;  such  as  hearing,  so  often,  many  ill  poets  rehearse  their  works,  and 
intending  to  repay  them  in  kind.  Next  he  informs  us,  why  he  addicts 
himself  to  satire,  rather  than  to  other  poetry,  and  gives  a  summary  and 
general  view  of  the  reigning  vices  and  follies  of  his  time.  He  lament* 
the.  restraints  which  the  «atirists  then  lay  under  from  a  fear  of  punish¬ 
ment,  and  professes  to  treat  of  the  dead,  personating,  under  their  names, 
certain  living  vicious  characters.  His  great  aim,  in  this,  and  in  all  hi* 
other  satires,  is  to  expose  and  reprove  vice  itself,  however  sanctified  by 
custom,  or  dignified  by  the  examples  of  the  great. 

Shall  I  always  be  only  a  hearer  ? — shall  I  never  repay, 

Who  am  teas’d  so  often  with  the  Theseis  of  hoarse  Codrus? 
Shall  one  (poet)  recite  his  comedies  to  me  with  impunity, 
Another  his  elegies  ?  shall  bulky  Telephus  waste  a  day 
With  impunity?  or  Orestes — the  margin  of  the  whole  book  al¬ 
ready  full,  * 

And  written  on  the  back  too,  nor  as  yet  finished  ? 

No  man’s  house  is  better  known  to  him,  than  to  me 
The  grove  of  Mars,  and  the  den  of  Vulcan  near 
The  iEolian  rocks :  what  the  winds  can  do :  what  ghosts 
Abacus  may  be  tormenting :  from  whence  another  could  con¬ 
vey  the  gold  16 

Of  the  stolen  lieece :  how  great  wild-ash  trees  Monychus  could 
throw: 

2 


10 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  i. 


The  plane-trees  of  Pronto,  and  the  convuls’d  marbles  complain 
Always,  and  the  columns  broken  with  the  continual  reader : 
You  may  expect  the  same  things  from  the  highest  and  from  the 
least  poet. 

And  I  therefore  have  withdrawn  my  hand  from  the  ferule : 

and  I  15 

Have  given  counsel  to  Sylla,  that,  a  private  man,  soundly 
He  should  sleep.  It  is  a  foolish  clemency,  when  every  where 
so  many 

Poets  you  may  meet,  to  spare  paper,  that  will  perish. 

But  why  it  should  please  me  rather  to  run  along  in  the  very 
field,  lV 

Through  which  the  great  pupil  of  Aurunca  drave  his  horses, 

I  will  tell  you,  if  you  have  leisure,  and  kindly  hearken  to  my 
reason. 

When  a  delicate  eunuch  can  marry  a  wife :  Msevia  can  stick 
A  Tuscan  boar,  and  hold  hunting-spears  with  a  naked  breast  : 
When  one  can  vie  with  all  the  patricians  in  riches, 

Who  clipping  my  beard  troublesome  to  me  a  youth  sounded : 
When  a  part  of  the  commonalty  of  the  Nile,  when  a  slave  of 
Canopus, 

Crispinus,  his  shoulder  recalling  the  Tyrian  cloaks, 

Can  ventilate  the  summer-gold  on  his  sweating  fingers, 

Nor  can  he  bear  the  weight  of  a  larger  gem ; 
it  is  difficult  not  to  write  satire.  For  who  can  so  endure  50 
The  wicked  city — who  is  so  insensible,  as  to  contain  himself? 
When  the  new  litter  of  lawyer  Matho  comes 
Full  of  himself:  and  after  him  the  secret  accuser  of  a  great  friend, 
And  who  is  soon  about  to  seize  from  the  devoured  nobility 
What  remains :  whom  Massa  fears :  whom  with  a  gift  55 

Cams  sooths,  and  Thymele  sent  privately  from  trembling  La- 
tinus. 

When  they  can  remove  you,  who  earn  last  wills 
By  night,  and  whom  the  lust  of  some  rich  old  woman 
(The  best  way  of  the  highest  success  now-a-days)  lift  up  into 
heaven. 

Proculeius  has  a  small  pittance,  Gillo  has  a  large  share :  40 

Every  one  takes  his  portion,  as  heir,  according  to  the  favour  he 
procures : 

Well  let  him  receive  the  reward  of  his  blood,  and  become  as 
Pale,  as  one  who  hath  pressed  with  his  naked  heels  a  snake, 

Or  as  a  rhetorician,  who  is  about  to  declaim  at  the  altar  of 
Lyons.  44 

What  shall  I  say? — With  how  great  anger  my  dry  liver  burns, 
When  here  a  spoiler  of  his  pupil  exposed  to  hire  presses  on  the 
people 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


11 


Sat.  i.] 


W  ith  flocks  of  attendants  ?  and  here  condemned  by  a  frivolous 
Judgment,  (for  what  is  infamy  when  money  is  safe?) 

The  exile  Marius  drinks  from  the  eighth  hour,  and  enjoys  the 
Angry  gods  ?  but  thou,  vanquishing  province,  lamentest  ?  50 

Shall  I  not  believe  these  things  worthy  the  Venusinian  lamp? 
Shall  I  not  agitate  these  (subjects?) — but  why  rather  Hera- 
cleans, 

Or  Diomedeans,  or  the  lowing  of  the  labyrinth, 

And  the  sea  stricken  by  a  boy,  and  the  flying  artificer  ? 

When  the  bawd  can  take  the  goods  of  the  adulterer,  (if  of  tak¬ 
ing  55 

There  is  no  right  to  the  wife,)  taught  to  look  upon  the  ceiling, 
Taught  also  at  a  cup  to  snore  with  a  vigilant  nose. 

When  he  can  think  it  right  to  hope  for  the  charge  of  a  cohort. 
Who  hath  given  his  estate  to  stables,  and  lacks  all  59 

The  income  of  his  ancestors,  while  he  flies,  with  swift  axle,  over 
The  Flaminian  way :  for  the  boy  Automedon  was  holding  the 
reins, 

When  he  boasted  himself  to  his  cloaked  mistress. 

Doth  it  not  like  one  to  fill  capacious  waxen  tablets  in  the 
middle  of  a 

Cross- way — when  now  can  be  carried  on  a  sixth  neck 
(Here  and  there  exposed,  and  in  almost  a  naked  chair,  63 

And  much  resembling  the  supine  Maecenas) 

A  signer  to  what  is  false  ;  who  himself  splendid  and  happy 
Has  made,  with  small  tables,  and  with  a  wet  gem  ? 

A  potent  matron  occurs,  who  soft  Calenian  wine 

About  to  reach  forth,  her  husband  thirsting,  mixes  a  toad,  ™ 

And,  a  better  Locusta,  instructs  her  rude  neighbours, 

Through  fame  and  the  people,  to  bring  forth  their  black  hus¬ 
bands. 

Dare  something  worthy  the  narrow  Gyarse,  or  a  prison, 

If  you  would  be  somebody.  Probity  is  praised  and  starves 

WITH  COLD. 

To  crimes  they  owe  gardens,  palaces,  tables, 

Old  silver,  and  a  goat  standing  on  the  outside  of  cups. 

Whom  docs  the  corrupter  of  a  covetous  daughter-in-law  suffer 
to  sleep  ? 

Whom  base  spouses,  and  the  noble  young  adulterer  ? 

If  nature  denies,  indignation  makes  verse, 

Such  as  it  can :  such  as  I,  or  Cluvenus. 

From  the  time  that  Deucalion  (the  showers  lifting  up  the  sea) 
Ascended  the  mountain  with  his  bark,  and  asked  for  lots, 

And  the  soft  stones  by  little  and  little  grew  warm  with  life, 

And  Pyrrha  shewed  to  males  naked  damsels, 


12 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  i. 


Whatever  men  do — desire,  fear,  anger,  pleasure,  : 

Joys,  discourse — is  the  composition  of  my  little  book. 

And  when  was  there  a  more  fruitful  plenty  of  vices  ?  when 
Has  a  greater  bosom  of  avarice  lain  open  ?  when  the  die 
These  spirits  ? — they  do  not  go,  with  purses  accompanying, 

To  the  chance  of  the  table,  but  a  chest  being  put  down  is  played 
for.  00 

How  many  battles  will  you  see  there,  the  steward 
Armour-bearer !  is  it  simple  madness  an  hundred  sestertia 
To  lose,  and  not  give  a  coat  to  a  ragged  servant  ? 

Who  has  erected  so  many  villas  ?  What  ancestor  on  seven 
dishes 

Has  supped  in  secret  ?  Now  a  little  basket  at  the  first  91 
Threshold  is  set,  to  be  snatched  by  the  gowned  crowd. 

But  he  first  inspects  the  face,  and  trembles,  lest 
Put  in  the  place  of  another  you  come,  and  ask  in  a  false  name. 
Acknowledged  you  will  receive.  He  commands  to  be  called  by 
the  crier 

The  very  descendants  of  the  Trojans  ;  for  even  they  molest  the 
threshold  100 

Together  with  us :  “  Give  to  the  Praetor — then  give  to  the  Tri¬ 
bune.” 

But  the  libertine  is  first :  I  the  first,  says  he,  am  here  present. 
Why  should  I  fear,  or  doubt  to  defend  my  place?  altho’ 

Born  at  the  Euphrates,  which  the  soft  holes  in  my  ear 
Prove,  though  I  should  deny  it :  but  five  houses  10 * 

Procure  400  (sestertia),  what  does  the  purple  confer  more 
To  be  wished  for,  if,  in  the  field  of  Laurentum,  Corvinus 
Keeps  hired  sheep  ?  I  possess  more 

Than  Pallas  and  the  Licini :  let  the  Tribunes,  therefore,  wait. 
Let  riches  prevail :  nor  let  him  yield  to  the  sacred  honour,  1!0 
Who  lately  came  into  this  city  with  white  feet: 

Since  among  us  the  majesty  of  riches  is 

Most  sacred  :  altho’,  0  baleful  money !  in  a  temple 

As  yet  thou  dost  not  dwell,  we  have  erected  no  altars  of  money. 

As  Peace  is  worshipp’d,  and  Faith,  Victory,  Virtue,  115 

And  Concord,  which  chatters  with  a  visited  nest. 

But  when  the  highest  honour  can  compute,  the  year  being 
finished, 

What  the  sportula  brings  in,  how  much  it  adds  to  its  accounts, 
What  will  the  attendants  do,  to  whom  from  hence  is  a  gown, 
from  hence  a  shoe,  120 

And  bread,  and  smoke  of  the  house  ?  A  thick  crowd  of  litters 
An  hundred  farthings  seek ;  and  the  wife  follows  the  husband, 
And,  sick  of  pregnant,  is  led  about. 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


13 


Sat.  i.] 

This  asks  for  the  absent,  cunning  in  a  known  art, 

Shewing  the  empty  and  shut-up  sedan  instead  of  the  wife.  124 
“It  is  my  Galla,”  says  he,  “dismiss  her  quickly:  do  you  delay?’’ 
“  Galla,  put  out  your  head” — “  dont  vex  her — she  is  asleep.” 
The  day  itself  is  distinguished  by  a  beautiful  order  of  things : 
The  sportula,  then  the  forum,  and  Apollo  learned  in  the  law, 
And  the  triumphals ;  among  which,  an  Egyptian,  I  know  not 
who, 

Has  dared  to  have  titles :  and  an  Arabian  prefect ;  150 

At  whose  image  it  is  not  right  so  much  as  to  make  water. 

The  old  and  tired  clients  go  away  from  the  vestibules, 

And  lay  aside  their  wishes,  altho’  the  man  has  had  a  very  long 
Expectation  of  a  supper :  pot-herbs  for  the  wretches,  and  fire  is 
to  be  bought. 

Meanwhile  their  lord  will  devour  the  best  things  of  the  woods, 
and  of  the  sea,  m 

And  he  only  will  lie  on  empty  beds : 

For  from  so  many  beautiful,  and  wide,  and  ancient  dishes, 
They  devour  patrimonies  at  one  meal. 

There  will  now  be  no  parasite ;  but  who  will  bear  that 
Filthiness  of  luxury  ?  how  great  is  the  gullet,  which,  for  itself 
puts  140 

Whole  boars,  an  animal  born  for  feasts  ? 

Yet  there  is  a  present  punishment,  when  you  put  off  your 
clothes, 

Turgid,  and  carry  an  indigested  peacock  to  the  baths  : 

Hence  sudden  deaths,  and  intestate  old  age. 

A  new  story,  nor  is  it  a  sorrowful  one,  goes  thro’  all  compa¬ 
nies  :  145 

A  funeral,  to  be  applauded  by  angry  friends,  is  carried  forth. 
There  will  be  nothing  farther,  which  posterity  can  add 
To  our  morals :  those  born  after  us  will  desire  and  do  the  same 
things. 

All  vice  is  at  the  height.  Use  sails, 

Spread  their  whole  bosoms  open.  Here,  perhaps,  you’ll  say — 
“  Whence  .  150 

“  Is  there  genius  equal  to  the  matter  ?  Whence  that  simplicity 
“  Of  former  (writers),  of  writing  whatever  they  might  like,  with 
“ A  burning  mind,  of  which  I  dare  not  tell  the  name  ? 

“  What  signifies  it,  whether  Mutius  might  forgive  what  they 
“  said,  or  not  ? 

“  Set  down  Tigellinus,  and  you  will  shine  in  that  torch,  15S 
“  In  which  standing  they  burn,  who  with  fixed  throat  smoke  ; 

“  And  you  draw  out  a  wide  furrow  in  the  midst  of  sand. 

“Shall  he,  therefore,  who  gave  wolf’s  bane  to  three  uncles,  be 
“  carried 


14 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  2. 


“  With  pensile  feathers,  and  from  thence  look  down  on  us  ?” 

“  When  he  shall  come  opposite,  restrain  your  lip  with  your 
“  finger —  160 

“  There  will  be  an  accuser  (of  him)  who  shall  say  the  word — 
“  ‘  That’s  he.’ 

“Though,  secure,  iEneas  and  the  fierce  Rutilian 
“  You  may  match:  smitten  Achilles  is  grievous  to  none: 

“  Or  Hylas  much  sought,  and  having  followed  his  pitcher. 

“  As  with  a  drawn  sword,  as  often  as  Lucitius  ardent 
“  Raged — the  hearer  reddens,  who  has  a  mind  frigid 
“  With  crimes;  the  bosom  sweats  with  silent  guilt: 

“  Hence  anger  and  tears.  Therefore  first  revolve,  with  thyself, 
“  These  things  in  thy  mind,  before  the  trumpets ;  the  helmeted 
“  late  of  a  fight 

“  Repents.”  I’ll  try  what  may  be  allowed  towards  those, 
Whose  ashes  are  covered  in  the  Flaminian  and  Latin  way. 


I 


SATIRE  II. 


ARGUMENT. 

-  V, 

The  poet,  in  this  entire,  inveighs  against  the  hypocrisy  of  the  philosophers 
and  priests  of  liis  time — the  effeminacy  ef  military  officers^ — and  magis¬ 
trates.  Which  corruption  of  manners,  as  well  among  them,  as  among 
others,  and,  more  particularly,  certain  unnatural  vices,  he  imputes  to  the 
atheism  and  infidelity  which  then  prevailed  among  all  ranks. 

I  could  wish  to  my  fly  hence,  beyond  the  Sauromatas,  and  the 
icy 

Ocean,  as  often  as  they  dare  any  thing  concerning  morals, 

Who  feign  (themselves)  Curii,  and  live  (like)  Bacchanals. 

First  they  are  unlearned:  tho’  all  things  full  with  plaster 
Of  Chrysippus  you  may  And:  for  the  most  perfect  of  these  is, 
If  any  one  buys  Aristotle  like,  or  Pittacus, 

And  commands  a  book-case  to  keep  original  images  of  Cleanthes. 
No  credit  to  the  countenance :  for  what  street  does  not  abound 
With  grave  obscenes?  dost  thou  reprove  base  (actions)  when 
thou  art 

A  most  noted  practitioner  among  the  Socratic  catamites  ?  10 

Rough  limbs  indeed,  and  hard  bristles  on  the  arms, 

Promise  a  fierce  mind :  but  evident  effects  of  unnatural 
Lewdness  expose  you  to  derision  and  contempt. 

Talk  is  rare  to  them,  and  the  fancy  of  keeping  silence  great, 
And  hair  shorter  than  the  eye-brow :  therefore  more  truly, 

And  more  ingenuously,  Peribonius:  him  I  to  the  fates 
Impute,  who  in  countenance  and  gait  confesses  his  disease 
The  simplicity  of  these  is  pitiable;  these  madness  itself 
Excuses:  but  worse  are  they  who  such  things  with  words 
Of  Hercules  attack,  who  talk  of  virtue,  and  indulge 
Themselves  in  horrid  vice.  Shall  I  fear  thee,  Sextus, 

Says  infamous  Varillus,  by  how  much  (am  I)  worse  than  thou 
art? 

1  iCt  the  straight  deride  the  bandy-legged — the  white  the  Ethio¬ 
pian. 

Who  could  have  borne  the  Gracchi  complaining  about  sedi¬ 
tion  ?  24 

Who  would  not  mix  heaven  with  earth,  and  the  sea  with  heaven, 
If  a  thief  should  displease  Verres,  or  an  homicide  Milo? 

If  Olodius  should  accuse  adulterers,  Catiline  Cethegus? 


16 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  ir. 

If  three  disciples  should  speak  against  the  table  of  Sylla  ? 

Such  was  the  adulterer  lately  polluted  with  a  tragical 
Intrigue  :  who  then  was  recalling  laws,  bitter  30 

To  all,  and  even  to  be  dreaded  by  Mars  and  Yenus  themselves : 
VYhen  Julia  her  fruitful  womb  from  So  many  abortives 
Released,  and  poured  forth  lumps  resembling  her  uncle. 

Do  not  therefore,  justly  and  deservedly,  the  most  vicious 
Despise  the  feigned  Scauri,  and  being  reproved,  bite  again  ?  st 
Laronia  did  not  endure  a  certain  sour  one  from  among  them 
Crying  out  so  often,  “Where  is  now  the  Julian  law?  dost  thou 
“  sleep  ?” 

And  thus  smiling :  “  Happy  times !  which  thee 
“  Oppose  to  manners :  now  Rome  may  take  shame : 

“  A  third  Cato  is  fallen  from  Heaven : — but  yet  whence  40 
“  Do  you  buy  these  perfumes  which  breathe  from  your  rough 
“Neck?  don’t  be  ashamed  to  declare  the  master  of  the  shop: 
“But  if  the  statutes  and  laws  are  disturbed,  the  Scantinian 
“  Ought  before  all  to  be  stirred  up.  Consider  first, 

“  And  examine  the  men :  these  do  more  things — hut  them  4S' 
“Number  defends,  and  battalions  joined  with  a  buckler. 
“There  is  great  concord  among  the  effeminate:  there  will  not 
“  be  any 

“  Example  so  detestable  in  our  sex : 

“Traedia  caresses  not  Cluvia,  nor  Flora  Catulla:: 

“  Hippo  assails  youths,  and  in  his  turn  is  assailed.  iC 

“  Do  we  plead  causes  ?  the  civil  laws 

“  Do  we  know  ?  or  with  any  noise  do  we  make  a  stir  in  your 
“  courts  ? 

“  A  few  wrestle,  a  few  eat  wrestlers’  diet : 

“  You  card  wool,  and  carry  back  in  full  baskets  your  finished 
“  Fleeces ;  you  the  spindle,  big  with  slender  thread, 

“  Better  than  Penelope  do  twist,  and  finer  than  Arachne, 

“  As  does  a  dirty  harlot  sitting  on  a  log. 

“It  is  known  why  Hister  filled  his  will  with  only 
“  His  freedman ;  why  alive  he  gave  much  to  a  wench : 

“She  will  be  rich,  who  sleeps  third  in  a  large  bed.  60’ 

“  Do  thou  marry,  and  hush — secrets  bestow  gems. 

“  After  all  this,  a  heavy  sentence  is  passed  against  us : 

“  Censure  excuses  ravens,  and  vexes  doves.” 

Her,  proclaiming  things  true  and  manifest,  trembling  fled 
The  Stoicines — For  what  falsehood  had  Laronia  [uttered]? 

But  what  6S 

Will  not  others  do,  when  thou  assumest  transparent  garments, 
O  Creticus,  and  (the  people  wond’ring  at  this  apparel)  thou  de- 
claimest 


Sat.  ii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


17 


Against  the  Proculse  and  Pollinen  ?  Fabnlla  is  an  adulteress : 
Let  Carfinia  too  be  condemned  if  you  please :  such 
A  gown,  condemned,  she’ll  not  put  on.  “But  July  burns—  70 
“I’m  very  hot” — do  your  business  naked:  madness  is  less 
shameful. 

Lo  the  habit !  in  which,  thee  promulgating  statutes  and  laws, 
The  people  (with  crude  wounds  just  now  victorious. 

And  that  mountain-vulgar  with  ploughs  laid  by)  might  hear. 
Whet  would  you  not  proclaim,  if,  on  the  body  of  a  judge,  those 
things  75 

You  should  see?  I  ask,  would  transparent  garments  become  a 
witness  ? 

Sour  and  unsubdued,  and  master  of  liberty, 

O  Creticus,  you  are  transparent!  contagion  gave  this  stain, 

And  will  give  it  to  more :  as,  in  the  fields,  a  whole  herd, 

Fall  by  the  scab  and  measles  of  one  swine :  80 

And  a  grape  derives  a  blueness  from  a  grape  beholden. 
Sometime  you’ll  venture  something  worse  than  this  dress: 
Nobody  was  on  a  sudden  most  base.  They  will  receive  thee 
By  little  and  little,  who  at  home  bind  long  fillets  on 
Their  foreheads,  and  have  placed  ornaments  all  over  the 
neck,  84 

And,  with  the  belly  of  a  tender  sow,  appease  the  good 
Goddess,  and  with  a  large  goblet :  but,  by  a  perverted  custom. 
Woman,  driven  far  away,  does  not  enter  the  threshold: 

The  altar  of  the  goddess  is  open  to  males  only — “  Go  ye  pro- 
“  fane” — 

is  cried  aloud :  with  no  horn  here  the  female  minstrel  sounds. 
Such  orgies,  with  a  secret  torch,  used  01 

The  Baptoe,  accustomed  to  weary  the  Cecropian  Cotytto. 

One,  his  eyebrow,  touched  with  wet  soot, 

Lengthens  with  oblique  needle,  and  painty,  lifting  them  up,  his 
trembling 

Eyes;  another  drinks  in  a  priapus  made  of  glass,  95 

And  fills  a  little  golden  net  with  a  vast  quantity  of  hair, 

Having  put  on  blue  female  garments,  or  smooth  white  vests ; 
And  the  servant  swearing  by  the  Juno  of  his  master. 

Another  holds  a  looking-glass,  the  bearing  of  pathic  Otho, 

The  spoil  of  Auruncian  Actor,  in  which  he  viewed  himself  100 
Armed,  when  he  commanded  the  banners  to  be  taken  up: 

A  thing  to  be  related  in  new  annals,  and  in  recent 
History,  a  looking-glass  the  baggage  of  civil  war ! 

To  kill  Galba  is  doubtless  the  part  of  a  great  general, 

And  to  take  care  of  the  skin,  the  perseverance  of  the  highest 
citizen.  104 


18 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  ii. 


In  the  field  of  Bedriacum  to  affect  the  spoil  of  the  palace, 

And  to  extend  over  the  face  bread  squeezed  with  the  fingers : 
Which  neither  the  quivered  Semiramis  in  the  Assyrian  world, 
Nor  sad  Cleopatra  did  in  her  Actiacan  galley. 

Here  is  no  modesty  in  their  discourse,  or  reverence  of  the 
table:  110 

Here,  of  filthy  Cybele,  and  of  speaking  with  broken  voice, 

The  liberty;  and  an  old  fanatic,  with  white  hair, 

Chief  priest  of  sacred  things,  a  rare  and  memorable  example 
Of  an  ample  throat,  and  a  master  to  be  hired. 

But  what  do  they  wait  for,  for  whom  it  is  now  high  time,  in  the 
Phrygian  115 

Manner,  to  cut  away  with  knives  their  superfluous  flesh  ? 
Gracchus  gave  400  sestertia,  a  dower 

To  a  horn-blower,  or  perhaps  he  had  sounded  with  straight 
brass, 

The  writings  were  signed:  “Happily” — said: — a  vast 
Supper  is  set :  the  new-married  lay  in  the  husband’s  bosom. — 
O  ye  nobles!  have  we  occasion  for  a  censor,  or  for  a  sooth¬ 
sayer  ?  121 

What !  would  you  dread,  and  think  them  greater  prodigies, 

If  a  woman  should  produce  a  calf,  or  a  cow  a  lamb  ? 

Collars,  and  long  habits,  and  wedding  veils  he  takes, 

Who  carrying  sacred  things  nodding  with  a  secret  rein,  125 

Sweated  with  Mar’s  shields.  O  father  of  the  city! 

Whence  so  great  wickedness  to  Latian  shepherds  ?  whence 
Hath  this  nettle,  O  Gradivus,  touched  your  descendants  ? 
Behold  a  man,  illustrious  by  family,  and  rich,  is  given  to  a  man ; 
You  neither  shake  your  hemlet,  nor  with  your  spear  smite  the 
garth,  150 

Nor  complain  to  the  father ! — Go  therefore,  and  depart  from  the 
acres 

Of  the  harsh  field,  which  you  neglect.  A  bus’ness,  to-morrow 
Early,  is  to  be  dispatched  by  me  in  the  vale  of  Quirinus. 

What  is  the  cause  of  the  bus’ness?  why  do  you  ask?  a  friend 
marries : 

Nor  does  he  admit  many.  Only  let  us  live,  these  things  will  be 
done,  13i 

Done  openly,  and  will  desire  to  be  reported  in  the  public  regis¬ 
ters. 

Meanwhile  a  great  torment  sticks  to  those  (thus)  marrying, 
That  they  can’t  bring  forth,  and  retain  by  birth  (of  children) 
their  husbands. 

But  it  is  better,  that,  to  their  minds,  no  authority  over  their  bodies 
Doth  nature  indulge ;  barren  they  die :  and  to  them  140 


Sat.  ii.] 


19 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 

/ 

Turgid  Lyde,  with  her  medicated  box,  is  of  no  use, 

Nor  does  it  avail  to  give  their  palms  to  the  nimble  Lupercus. 
Vet  the  fork  of  the  coated  Gracchus  outdid  this  prodigy, 

When,  as  a  gladiator,  he  traversed  in  flight  the  middle  of  the 
stage,  144 

More  nobly  born  than  the  Manlii,  the  Capitolini,  and  Marcelli, 
And  the  Catuli,  and  the  posterity  of  Paulus ;  than  the  Fabii,  and 
Than  all  the  spectators  at  the  podium :  tho’,  to  these,  him 
You  should  add,  at  whose  expense  he  then  threw  the  net. 

That  there  are  many  ghosts  and  subterranean  realms, 

And  a  boat-pole,  and  black  frogs  in  the  Stygian  gulpli,  150 
And  that  so  many  thousands  pass  over  in  one  boat, 

Not  even  boys  believe,  unless  those  not  as  yet  washed  for 
money : 

Hut  think  thou  that  they  are  true  :  What  thinks  Curius,  and 
both 

The  Scipios?  what  Fabricius,  and  the  ghost  of  Camillus?  134 
What  the  legion  of  Cremera,  and  the  youth  consumed  at  Ganna?, 
So  many  warlike  souls?  as  often  as  from  hence  to  them  such 
A  shade  arrives,  they  would  desire  to  be  purified,  if  there  could 
be  given 

Sulphur  with  pines,  and  if  there  were  a  wet  laurel. 

Thither,  alas!  we  wretches  are  conveyed!  our  arms,  indeed, 
beyond  100 

The  shores  of  Juverna  we  have  advanced,  and  the  lately  cap¬ 
tured 

Orcades,  and  the  Britons  content  with  very  little  night. 

But  the  things  which  now  are  done  in  the  city  of  the  conquer¬ 
ing  people, 

Those  whom  we  have  conquered  do  not :  and  yet  one 
Armenian,  Zelates,  more  soft  than  all  our  striplings,  is  said 
To  have  yielded  himself  to  a  burning  tribune. 

See  what  commerce  may  do :  he  had  come  an  hostage. 

Here  they  become  men  :  for  if  a  longer  stay  indulges 
The  city  to  boys,  never  will  a  lover  be  wanting. 

Trowsers,  knives,  bridles,  whip,  will  be  laid  aside. 

Thus  they  carry  back  pra?  text  ate  manners  to  Artaxata. 


170 


SATIRE  III. 


ARGUMENT. 

Juvenal  introduces  Umbritius,  an  old  friend  of  his,  taking  his  departure  from 
Rome,  and  going  to  settle  in  a  country  retirement  at  Cumse.  He  accom¬ 
panies  Umbritius  out  of  town ;  and  before  they  take  leave  of  each  other, 
Umbritius  tells  his  friend  Juvenal  the  reasons  which  had  induced  him  to 
retire  from  Rome :  each  of  which  is  replete  with  the  keenest  satire  on 
its  vicious  inhabitants.  Thus  the  poet  carries  on  his  design  of  inveighing 
against  the  vices  and  disorders  which  reigned  in  that  city. 

Thoj  troubled  at  the  departure  of  an  old  friend, 

I  yet  approve  that  to  fix  his  abode  at  empty  Cumae 
He  purposes,  and  to  give  one  citizen  to  the  Sibyl. 

It  is  the  gate  of  Bairn,  and  a  grateful  shore  of  pleasant 
Retirement.  I  prefer  even  Prochyta  to  Suburra :  1 

For  what  so  wretched,  so  solitary  do  we  see,  that  you 
Would  not  think  it  worse  to  dread  fires,  the  continual 
Falling  of  houses,  and  a  thousand  perils  of  the  fell 
City,  and  poets  reciting  in  the  month  of  August  ? 

But  while  his  whole  house  is  put  together  in  one  vehicle,  10 
He  stood  still  at  the  old  arches,  and  wet  Capena ; 

Here,  where  Numa  appointed  his  nocturnal  mistress, 

Now  the  grove  of  the  sacred  fountain,  and  the  shrines  are  hired 
To  the  Jews :  of  whom  a  basket  and  hay  are  the  household  stuff. 
For  every  tree  is  commanded  to  pay  a  rent  to  the  people: 

And  the  wood  begs,  the  muses  being  ejected. 

We  descend  into  the  vale  of  Algeria,  and  into  caves 
Unlike  the  true :  how  much  better  might  have  been 
The  deity  of  the  water,  if,  with  a  green  margin,  the  grass  inclosed 
The  waters,  nor  had  marbles  violated  the  natural  stone  ?  20 

Here  then  Umbritius : — Since  for  honest  arts,  says  he, 

There  is  no  place  in  the  city,  no  emoluments  of  labour, 

One’s  substance  is  to-day  less  than  it  was  yesterday,  and  the 
same  to-morrow, 

Will  diminish  something  from  the  little ;  we  propose  thither 
To  go,  where  Daedalus  put  off  his  weary  wings,  21 

While  greyness  is  new,  while  old  age  is  fresh  and  upright, 
While  there  remains  to  Lachesis  what  she  may  spin,  and  on 
my  feet 

Myself  I  carry,  no  staff  sustaining  my  hand, 


Sat.  hi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


21 


Let  us  leave  our  native  soil :  let  Arturius  live  there, 

And  Catulus  :  let  those  stay  who  turn  black  into  white.  M 
To  whom  it  is  easy  to  hire  a  building,  rivers,  ports, 

A  sewer  to  be  dried,  a  corpse  to  be  carried  to  the  pile, 

And  to  expose  a  venal  head  under  the  mistress-spear. 

These,  in  time  past,  horn-blowers,  and  on  a  municipal  theatre 
Perpetual  attendants,  and  cheeks  known  through  the  towns, 
Now  set  forth  public  shows,  and,  the  people’s  thumb  being 
turned,  36 

Kill  whom  they  will,  as  the  people  please :  thence  returned 
They  hire  jakes  :  and  why  not  all  things  ?  since  they  are 
Such,  as,  from  low  estate,  to  great  heights  of  circumstances 
Fortune  raises  up,  as  often  as  she  has  a  mind  to  joke.  40 

What  can  I  do  at  Rome  ?  I  know  not  to  lie  :  a  book 
If  bad  I  cannot  praise,  and  ask  for  :  the  motions 
Of  the  stars  I  am  ignorant  of:  the  funeral  of  a  father  to  promise 
I  neither  will,  nor  can :  the  entrails  of  toads  I  never 
Have  inspected  :  to  carry  a  married  woman  what  an  adulterer 
sends,  44 

What  he  commits  to  charge,  let  others  know :  nobody,  I  assisting, 
Shall  be  a  thief;  and  therefore  I  go  forth  a  companion  to  none,  as 
Maimed,  and  the  useless  body  of  an  extinct  right-hand. 

Who  now  is  loved,  unless  conscious,  and  whose  fervent  49 

Mind  boils  with  things  hidden,  and  ever  to  remain  in  silence? 
He  thinks  he  owes  you  nothing,  nothing  will  he  bestow, 

Who  hath  made  you  partaker  of  ail  honest  secret. 

He  will  be  dear  to  Verres,  who  Verres,  at  any  time  he  will, 

Can  accuse.  Of  so  much  value  to  you  let  not  of  shady 
Tagus  the  whole  sand  be,  and  the  gold  which  is  rolled  into  the 
sea,  " 

That  you  should  want  sleep,  and  should  accept  rewards  to  be 
rejected, 

Sorrowful,  and  be  always  feared  by  a  great  friend. 

What  nation  is  most  acceptable  to  our  rich  men, 

And  whom  I  would  particularly  avoid,  I  will  hasten  to  confess: 
Nor  shall  shame  hinder.  O  Romans,  I  cannot  bear,  60 

A  Grecian  city ;  tho:  what  is  the  portion  of  Achaean  dregs  ? 
Some  while  since  Syrian  Orontes  has  flow’d  into  the  Tiber, 
And  It*  language,  and  manners,  and,  with  the  piper,  harps 
Oblique,  also  its  national  timbrels,  with  itself 
Hath  brought,  and  girls  bidden  to  expose  themselves  for  hiring 
at  the  Circus. —  6f 

Go  ye,  who  like  a  Barbarian  strumpet  with  a  painted  mitre. 

That  rustic  of  thine,  0  Quirinus,  assumes  a  Grecian  dress, 
And  carries  Grecian  ornaments  on  his  perfumed  neck. 


22 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  in- 


One  leaving  high  Sicyon,  but  another,  Amydon, 

He  from  Andros,  another  from  Samos,  another  from  Tralles,  or 
Alabanda,  70 

Seek  the  Esquilise,  and  the  hill  named  from  an  osier ; 

The  bowels,  and  future  lords,  of  great  families. 

A  quick  wit,  desperate  impudence,  speech 
Ready,  and  more  rapid  than  Isaeus.  Say — what  do  you 
Think  him  to  be?  He  has  brought  us  with  himself  what  man 
you  please  :  75 

Grammarian,  Rhetorician,  Geometrician,  Painter,  Anointer, 
Augur,  Rope-dancer,  Physician,  Wizard;  he  knows  all  things. 
A  hungry  Greek  will  go  into  heaven,  if  you  command. 

In  fine — he  was  not  a  Moor,  nor  Sarmatian,  nor  Thracian, 
Who  assumed  wings,  but  born  in  the  midst  of  Athens. 

Shall  I  not  avoid  the  splendid  dress  of  these  ?  before  me  shall  he 
Sign  ?  and  supported  by  a  better  couch  shall  he  lie  at  table, 
Brought  to  Rome  by  the  same  wind  as  plums  and  figs? 

Is  it  even  nothing  that  our  infancy  the  air 
Of  Aventinus  drew,  nourished  by  the  Sabine  berry?  85 

What ! — because  a  nation,  most  expert  in  flattery,  praises 
The  speech  of  an  unlearned,  the  face  of  a  deformed  friend, 

And  equals  the  long  neck  of  the  feeble,  to  the  neck  of 
Hercules,  holding  Antseus  far  from  the  earth — 

Admires  a  squeaking  voice :  not  worse  than  which,  90 

He  utters,  who,  being  husband,  the  hen  is  bitten ! 

These  same  things  we  may  praise  also:  but  to  them 
Credit  is  given.  Whether  is  he  better  when  he  plays  Thais,  or 
when 

The  comedian  acts  a  wife,  or  Doris  with  no 

Cloak  dressed?  truly  a  woman  herself  seems  to  speak,  ,  9i 

Not  the  actor :  you  would  declare 

It  was  a  real  woman  in  all  respects. 

Y et  neither  will  Antiochus,  nor  admirable  there  will 
Either  Stratocles,  or  Demetrius,  with  soft  Hamms,  be :  99 

The  nation  is  imitative.  Do  you  laugh?  with  greater  laughter 
Is  he  shaken  :  he  weeps,  if  he  has  seen  the  tears  of  a  friend, 

Not  that  he  grieves :  if  in  winter-time  you  ask  for  a  little  fire, 
He  puts  on  a  great  coat :  if  you  should  say,  “  I  am  hot” — he 
sweats. 

We  are  not  therefore  equals:  better  is  he,  who  always,  and  all 
Night  and  day,  can  assume  another’s  countenance,  105 

Cast  from  the  face  the  hands,  ready  to  applaud, 

If  his  friend  hath  belched  well,  or  rightly  made  water ; 

If  the  golden  cup  hath  given  a  crack,  from  the  inverted  bottom. 
Moreover,  nothing  is  sacred  or  safe  from  their  lust;  109 


Sat.  iii.]  JUVENAL’S  SATIRES.  23 

Not  the  matron  of  an  household,  not  a  virgin  daughter,  not 
The  wooer  himself,  as  yet  smooth,  not  the  son  before  chaste. 

If  there  be  none  of  these,  he  turns  the  house  of  his  friend  up¬ 
side  down : 

They  will  know  the  secrets  of  the  family,  and  thence  be  feared. 
And  because  mention  of  Greeks  has  begun,  pass  over 
The  schools,  and  hear  a  deed  of  the  greater  abolla.  114 

A  Stoic  killed  Bareas,  an  informer  his  friend, 

And  an  old  man  his  disciple,  nourished  on  that  bank, 

At  which  a  feather  of  the  Gorgonean  horse  dropped  down. 

No  place  is  here  for  any  Roman,  where  reigns 

Some  Protogenes,  or  Diphilus,  or  Erimanthus,  120 

Who,  from  the  vice  of  his  nation,  never  shares  a  friend ; 

He  alone  hath  him :  for,  Avhen  he  hath  dropp’d  into  his  easy  ear 
A  little  of  the  poison  of  his  nature,  and  of  his  country, 

1  am  removed  from  the  threshold  : — times  of  long  service 
Are  past  and  gone — no  where  is  the  loss  of  a  client  less.  124 
Moreover,  what  is  the  office,  (that  I  may  not  hatter  ourselves,) 
or  what 

The  merit  of  a  poor  man  here,  if  a  client  takes  care  by  night 
To  run,  when  the  Praetor  drives  on  the  lictor,  and  to  go 
Precipitate  commands  him,  (the  childless  long  since  awake,) 
Lest  first  his  colleague  should  salute  Albina  or  Modia  ?  130 

Here,  the  son  of  a  rich  slave  closes  the  side  of  the 
Free-born :  but  another,  as  much  as  in  a  legion  Tribunes 
Receive,  presents  to  Calvina,  or  Catiena, 

That  once  and  again  he  may  enjoy  her:  but  thou,  m 

When  the  face  of  a  well-dressed  harlot  pleases  thee,  hesitatest,  . 
And  doubtest  to  lead  forth  Chione  from  her  high  chair. 

Produce  a  witness  at  Rome,  as  just  as  was  the  host 
Of  the  Idean  deity :  let  even  Numa  come  forth,  or  he  who 
Preserved  trembling  Minerva  from  the  burning  temple  :  I3# 

Immediately  as  to  income,  concerning  morals  will  be  the  last 
Inquiry :  how  many  servants  he  maintains  ?  how  many  acres 
of  land 

He  possesses?  in  how  many  and  great  a  dish  he  sups? 

As  MUCH  MONEY  AS  EVERY  ONE  KEEPS  IN  HIS  CHEST, 

So  much  credit  too  he  has.  Tho’  you  should  swear  by  the 
altars,  both 

Of  the  Samothracian,  and  of  our  gods,  a  poor  man  to  contemn 
thunder  144 

Is  believed,  and  the  gods,  the  gods  themselves  forgiving  him. 
What,  because  this  same  affords  matter  and  causes  of  jests 
To  all,  if  his  garment  be  dirty  and  rent, 

If  his  gown  be  soiled,  and  one  of  his  shoes  with  torn 


24 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  in. 


Leather  be  open :  or  if  not  one  patch  only  shews  the  coarse 
And  recent  thread  in  the  stiched-up  rupture  ?  151 

Unhappy  poverty  has  nothing  harder  in  itself 
Than  that  it  makes  men  ridiculous.  Let  him  go  out,  says  he, 
If  he  has  any  shame,  and  let  him  rise  from  the  equestrian 
cushion, 

Whose  estate  is  not  sufficient  for  the  law,  and  let  there  sit  here 
The  sons  of  pimps,  in  whatever  brothel  born.  154 

Here  let  the  son  of  a  spruce  crier  applaud,  among 
The  smart  youths  of  a  sword-player,  and  the  youths  of  a  fencer : 
Thus  it  pleased  vain  Otho,  who  distinguished  us. 

What  son-in-law,  here,  inferior  in  estate,  hath  pleased,  and  un¬ 
equal 

To  the  bags  of  a  girl?  what  poor  man  written  down  heir? 
When  is  he  in  counsel  with  iEdiles?  In  a  formed  body, 

The  mean  Romans  ought  long  ago  to  have  migrated. 

They  do  not  easily  emerge,  to  whose  virtues  narrow 
Fortune  is  a  hindrance;  but  at  Rome  more  hard  to  them  is 
The  endeavour :  a  miserable  lodging  at  a  great  price,  at  a  great 
price  166 

The  bellies  of  servants,  and  a  little  frugal  supper  at  a  great 
price. 

It  shameth  to  sup  in  earthen  ware:  which  he  denied  to  be  dis¬ 
graceful, 

Who  was  translated  suddenly  to  the  Marsi,  and  to  the  Sabellan 
table, 

And  there  was  content  with  a  Venetian  and  coarse  hood.  170 
There  is  a  great  part  of  Italy,  if  we  admit  the  truth,  in  which 
Nobody  takes  the  gown,  unless  dead.  The  solemnity  itself  of 
Festal  days,  if  at  any  time  it  is  celebrated  in  a  grassy 
Theatre,  and  at  length  a  known  farce  returns  to  the  stage, 
When  the  gaping  of  the  pale-looking  mask 
The  rustic  infant  in  its  mother’s  bosom  dreads: 

Habits  are  equal  there,  and  there  alike  you  will  see 
The  orchestra  and  people :  the  clothing  of  bright  honour, 

White  tunics,  suffice  for  the  chief  iEdiles. 

Here  is  a  finery  of  dress  beyond  ability:  here  is  something 


175 


more 


180 


Than  enough :  sometimes  it  is  taken  from  another’s  chest : 

The  vice  is  common.  Here  we  all  live  in  ambitious 
Poverty : — why  do  I  detain  you  ?  All  things  at  Rome 
Are  with  a  price.  What  give  you  that  sometimes  you  may  sa¬ 
lute  Cossus  ? 

That  Veiento  may  look  on  you  with  shut  lip?  185 

One  shaves  the  beard,  another  deposits  the  hair  of  a  favourite : 


'Sat.  hi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


2b 


The  house  is  full  of  venal  cakes  :  take,  and  that 
Leaven  have  to  thyself  :  we  clients  to  pay  tributes 
Are  compelled,  and  to  augment  the  wealth  of  spruce  servants. 
Who  fears,  or  hath  feared  the  fall  of  a  house  in  cold  Pr«e- 
neste,  190 

Or  at  Volsinium  placed  among  shady  hills,  or  at 
Simple  Gabii,  or  at  the  tower  of  prone  Tibur  ? 

We  inhabit  a  city  supported  by  a  slender  prop 
sin  a  great  part  of  itself;  for  thus  the  steward  hinders  106 

What  is  falling,  and  has  covered  the  gaping  of  an  old  chink: 
He  bids  us  to  sleep  secure,  ruin  impending. 

There  one  should  live,  where  there  are  no  burnings,  no  fears 
In  the  night. — Already  Ucalegon  asks  for  water,  already 
Removes  the  lumber:  already  thy  third  floors  smoke: 

Thou  know’st  it  not  :  for  if  they  are  alarmed  from  the  lowest 
steps,  200 

The  highest  will  burn,  which  the  roof  alone  defends 
Prom  the  rain :  where  the  soft  pigeons  lay  their  eggs. 

Codrus  had  a  bed  less  than  Procula:  six  little  pitchers 
The  ornament  of  his  cupboard ;  also,  underneath,  a  small 
.Jug,  and  a  Chiron  reclining  under  the  same  marble.  2CS 

And  now  an  old  chest  preserved  his  Greek  books, 

And  barbarous  mice  were  gnawing  divine  verses. 

Nothing  had  Codrus — who  forsooth  denies  it  ?  and  yet  all  that 
Nothing  unhappy  he  lost.  But  the  utmost 
Addition  to  his  affliction  was,  that,  naked,  and  begging  scraps,  2]C 
Nobody  will  help  him  with  food,  nobody  with  entertainment, 
and  an  house. 

If  the  great  house  of  Asturius  hath  fallen;  the  mother  is 
ghastly, 

The  nobles  sadly  clothed,  the  Praetor  defers  recognizances : 
Then  we  lament  the  misfortunes  of  the  city ;  then  we  hate  fire : 
It  burns  yet — and  now  runs  one  who  can  present  marbles,  2U 
Can  contribute  expenses:  another  naked  and  white  statues; 
Another  something  famous  of  Euphranor  and  Polycletus ; 

The  ancient  ornaments  of  Phrecasian  gods. 

This  man  will  give  books,  and  book-cases,  and  Minerva  down 
to  the  waist ; 

Another  a  bushel  of  silver :  better  and  more  things  doth  220 
The  Persian,  the  most  splendid  of  destitutes  lay  up,  and  now 
deservedly 

Suspected,  as  if  he  had  himself  set  fire  to  his  own  house. 

Could  you  be  plucked  away  from  the  Circenses,  a  most  excellent 
house 

At  Sora,  or  Fabrateria,  or  Frusino,  is  gotten 

3 


224 


26 


JUVENAL/S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  nr- 


At  the  price  for  which  you  now  hire  darkness  for  one  year  : 
Here  is  a  little  garden,  and  a  shallow  well,  not  to  be  drawn  by 
a  rope, 

It  is  poured  with  an  easy  draught  on  the  small  plants. 

Live  fond  of  the  fork,  and  the  farmer  of  a  cultivated  garden, 
Whence  you  may  give  a  feast  to  an  hundred  Pythagoreans. 

It  is  something  in  any  place,  in  any  retirement,  2301 

To  have  made  one’s  self  master  of  one  lizard. 

Here  many  a  sick  man  dies  with  watching;  (but  that 
Languor  food  hath  produced,  imperfect,  and  sticking 
To  the  burning  stomach),  for  what  hired  lodgings  admit 
Sleep? — With  great  wealth  one  sleeps  in  the  city.  235 

Thence  the  source  of  the  disease :  the  passing  of  carriages  in 
the  narrow 

Turning  of  the  streets,  and  the  foul  language  of  the  standing 
team, 

Take  away  sleep  from  Drusus,  and  from  sea-calves. 

If  business  calls,  the  crowd  giving  way,  the  rich  man  will  be 
Carried  along,  and  will  pass  swiftly  above  their  faces  with  a 
huge  Liburnian,  241 

And  in  the  way  he  will  read,  or  write,  or  sleep  within  ; 

For  a  litter  with  the  window  shut  causeth  sleep. 

But  he  will  come  before  us:  us  hastening  the  crowd  before 
Obstructs:  the  people  who  follow  press  the  loins  with  a  large 
Concourse :  one  strikes  with  the  elbow,  another  strikes  with  a 
large  245 

Joist,  but  another  drives  a  beam  against  one’s  head,  another  a 
tub. 

The  legs  thick  with  mud :  presently,  on  all  sides,  with  a  great 
foot 

I’m  trodden  on,  and  the  nail  of  a  soldier  sticks  in  my  toe. 

Do  not  you  see  with  how  much  smoke  the  sportula  is  fre¬ 
quented  ? 

An  hundred  guests :  his  own  kitchen  follows  every  one : 
Corbulo  could  hardly  bear  so  many  immense  vessels,  so  many 
things 

Put  on  his  head,  as,  with  an  upright  top,  an  unhappy  little 
Slave  carries ;  and  in  running  ventilates  the  fire. — 

Botched  coats  are  torn.  Now  a  long  fir-tree  brandishes, 

The  waggon  coming,  and  a  pine  other 

Carts  carry,  they  nod  on  high,  and  threaten  the  people. 

But  if  the  axle,  which  carries  the  Ligustian  stones, 

Hath  fallen  down,  and  hath  poured  forth  the  overturned  moun¬ 
tain  upon  the  crowd, 

What  remains  of  their  bodies?  who  finds  members — who 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


27 


Sat.  iii.J 


271 


274 


Bones  ?  every  carcase  of  the  vulgar,  ground  to  powder,  perishes 
In  the  manner  of  the  soul.  Meanwhile,  the  family  secure  now 
washes  261 

The  dishes,  and  raises  up  a  little  fire  with  the  cheek,  and  makes 
a  sound  with  anointed 

Scrapers,  and  puts  together  the  napkins  with  a  full  cruse. 
These  things  among  the  servants  are  variously  hastened ;  but  he 
Now  sits  on  the  bank,  and,  a  novice,  dreads  the  black  265 

Ferryman;  nor  does  he  hope  for  the  boat  of  the  muddy  gulf, 
Wretch  [that  he  is] — nor  hath  he  a  farthing  which  he  can  reach 
forth  from  his  mouth. 

Now  consider  other  and  different  dangers  of  the  night: 

What  space  from  high  roofs,  from  whence  the  brain 
A  potsherd  strikes,  as  often  as  from  the  windows  cracked  and 
broken 

Vessels  fall,  with  what  weight  they  mark  and  wound 
The  stricken  flint:  you  may  be  accounted  idle, 

And  improvident  of  sudden  accident,  if  to  supper 
You  go  intestate ;  there  are  as  many  fates  as,  in  that 
Night,  there  are  watchful  windows  open,  while  you  pass  by. 
Therefore  you  should  desire,  and  carry  with  you  a  miserable 
wish, 

That  they  may  be  content  to  pour  forth  broad  basons. 

One  drunken  and  petulant,  who  haply  hath  killed  nobody, 

Is  punished;  suffers  the  night  of  Pelides  mourning  279 

His  friend;  he  lies  on  his  face,  then  presently  on  his  back: 

For  otherwise  he  could  not  sleep;  To  some 
A  quarrel  causes  sleep:  but  tho’  wicked  from  years 
And  heated  with  wine,  he  is  aware  of  him  whom  a  scarlet  cloak 
Commands  to  avoid,  and  a  very  long  train  of  attendants, 
Besides  a  great  number  of  lights,  and  a  brazen  lamp. 

Me  whom  the  moon  is  wont  to  attend,  or  the  short  light 
Of  a  candle,  the  wick  of  which  I  dispose  and  regulate, 

He  despises :  know  the  preludes  of  a  wretched  quarrel, 

If  it  be  a  quarrel  where  you  strike  and  I  only  am  beaten. 

He  stands  opposite,  and  bids  you  stand ;  it  is  necessary  to 
obey ;  290 

For  what  can  you  do,  when  a  madman  compels,  and  he 
The  stronger?  “Whence  come  you,”  he  exclaims,  “with 
“whose  vinegar, 

“With  whose  bean,  swell  you  ?  What  cobler  with  you 
“  Sliced  leek,  and  a  boiled  sheep’s  head,  hath  eaten  ?  294 

“  Do  you  answer  me  nothing? — either  tell,  or  take  a  kick : 

“  Tell  where  you  abide — in  what  begging-place  shall  I  seek 
you  ?” — 


285 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  iix. 


it’  you  should  attempt  to  say  any  thing,  or  retire  silent, 

It  amounts  to  the  same :  they  equally  strike :  then,  angry,  they 
Bind  you  over.  This  is  the  liberty  of  a  poor  man. 

Beaten  he  asks,  bruised  with  fists  he  entreats,  300 

That  he  may  return  thence  with  a  few  of  his  teeth. 

Yet  neither  may  you  fear  this  only:  for  one  who  will  rob  you 
will  not 

Be  wanting,  the  houses  being  shut  up,  after,  everywhere,  every 
Fixed  fastening  of  the  chained  shop  hath  been  silent : 

And  sometimes  the  sudden  footpad  with  a  sword  does  your  bu¬ 
siness,  306 

As  often  as,  with  an  armed  guard,  are  kept  safe 
Both  the  Pontinian  marsh,  and  the  Gallinarian  pine  : 

Thus  from  thence  hither  all  run  as  to  vivaries. 

In  what  furnace,  on  what  anvil  are  not  heavy  chains? 

The  greatest  quantity  of  iron  (is  used)  in  fetters,  so  that  you 
may  fear  lest  311 

The  ploughshares  may  fail,  lest  hoes  and  spades  may  be  wanting. 
You  may  call  our  great-grandfathers  happy,  happy 
The  ages,  which  formerly,  under  kings  and  tribunes, 

Saw  Rome  content  with  one  prison. 

To  these  I  could  subjoin  other  and  more  causes,  316 

But  my  cattle  call,  and  the  sun  inclines,  I  must  go: 

For  long  since  the  muleteer,  with  his  shaken  whip, 

Hath  hinted  to  me :  therefore  farewell  mindful  of  me :  and  as 
often  as 

Rome  shall  restore  you,  hastening  to  be  refreshed,  to  your 
Aquinum, 

Me  also  to  Helvine  Ceres,  and  to  your  Diana,  321 

Rend  from  Cumse :  I  of  your  Satires  (unless  they  are  ashamed'} 
An  helper,  will  come  armed  into  your  cold  fields. 


SATIRE  IV. 


ARGUMENT. 

From  the  luxury  and  prodigality  of  Crispinus,  whom  he  lashes  so  severely 
Sat.  i.  26-9,  Juvenal  takes  occasion  to  describe  a  ridiculous  consultation, 
held  by  Domitian  over  a  large  turbot;  which  was  too  big  to  be  contained 
in  any  dish  that  could  be  found.  The  poet,  with  great  wit  and  humour, 
describes  the  senators  being  summoned  in  this  exigency,  and  gives  a  par¬ 
ticular  account  of  their  characters,  speeches,  and  advice.  After  long 
consultation,  it  was  proposed  that  the  fish  should  be  cut  to  pieces,  and  so 
dressed  :  at  last  they  all  came  over  to  the  opinion  of  the  senator  Monta- 
nus,  that  it  should  be  dressed  whole;  and  that  a  dish,  big  enough  to  con¬ 
tain  it,  should  be  made  on  purpose  for  it.  The  council  is  then  dismissed, 
and  the  Satire  concludes  ;  but  not  without  a  most  severe  censure  on  the 
emperor’s  injustice  and  cruelty  towards  some  of  the  best  and  most  worthy 
of  the  Romans. 

Behold  again  Crispinus!  and  he  is  often  to  be  called  by  me 
To  his  parts :  a  monster  by  no  virtue  redeemed 
From  vices — sick,  and  strong  in  lust  alone : 

The  adulterer  despises  only  the  charms  of  a  widow. 

What  signifies  it,  therefore,  in  how  large  porches  he  fatigues  5 
His  cattle,  in  how  great  a  shade  of  groves  he  may  be  carried. 
How  many  acres  near  the  forum,  what  houses  he  may  have 
bought  ? 

No  bad  man  is  happy  :  least  of  all  a  corrupter,  and  the  same 
Incestuous,  with  whom  there  lay,  lately,  a  filletted 
Priestess,  about  to  go  under  ground  with  blood  as  yet  alive.  10 
But  now  concerning  lighter  deeds :  and  yet  another, 

If  he  had  done  the  same,  would  have  fallen  under  the  judge  of 
manners : 

For  what  would  be  base  in  good  men,  in  Tititus,  or  Seius,  be¬ 
came 

Crispinus :  what  can  you  do,  since  dire,  and  fouler  than  every 
Crime,  his  person  is  ? — He  bought  a  mullet  for  six  sestertia, 
Truly  equalling  the  sestertia  to  a  like  number  of  pounds,  16 
As  they  report,  who  of  great  things  speak  greater. 

I  praise  the  device  of  the  contriver,  if,  with  so  large  a  gift, 

He  had  obtained  the  chief  wax  on  the  will  of  a  childless  old 
man. 

There  is  further  reason,  if  he  had  sent  it  to  a  great  mistress, 


20 


30 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  iv. 


Who  is  carried  in  a  close  litter  with  broad  windows. 

Expect  no  such  thing:  he  bought  it  for  himself;  we  see  many 
things 

Which  the  wretched  and  frugal  Apicius  did  not :  this  thou  [didst  | 
Crispinus,  formerly  girt  with  your  own  country  flag. 

Is  this  the  price  of  a  scale  ?  perhaps,  at  less  might 
The  fisherman,  than  the  fish,  be  bought.  At  so  much  a  pro¬ 
vince 

Sells  fields:  but  Apulia  sells  greater. 

What  dainties  then  can  we  think  the  emperor  himself 
To  have  swallowed,  when  so  many  sestertia,  a  small 
Part,  and  taken  from  the  margin  of  a  moderate  supper, 

A  purple  buffoon  of  the  great  palace  belched? 

Now  chief  of  knights,  who  used,  with  a  loud  voice, 

To  sell  his  own  country  shads  for  hire. 

Begin  Calliope,  here  you  may  dwell :  you  must  not 
Sing,  a  real  matter  is  treated :  relate  it  ye  Pierian 
Maids — let  it  avail  me  to  have  called  ye  maids. 

When  now  the  last  Flavius  had  torn  the  half-dead 
World,  and  Rome  was  in  bondage  to  bald  Nero, 

There  fell  a  wondrous  size  of  an  Adriatic  turbot, 

Before  the  house  of  Venus  which  Doric  Ancon  sustains,  40 
Into  a  net  and  filled  it,  for  a  less  had  not  stuck  than  those 
Which  the  Mreotic  ice  covers,  and  at  length,  broken 
By  the  sun,  pours  forth  at  the  entrance  of  the  dull  Pontic, 

Slew  by  idleness,  and,  by  long  cold,  fat. 

The  master  of  the  boat  and  net  destines  this  monster  4i 
For  the  chief  pontiff — for  who  to  offer  such  a  one  to  sale, 

Or  to  buy  it,  would  dare  ?  since  the  shores  too  with  many 
An  informer  might  be  full :  the  dispersed  inquisitors  of  sea- weed 
Would  immediately  contend  with  the  naked  boatman, 

Not  doubting  to  say  that  the  fish  was  a  fugitive, 

And  long  had  fed  in  Caesar’s  ponds,  thence  had 
Escaped,  and  ought  to  return  to  its  old  master. 

If  we  at  all  believe  Palphurius,  or  Armillatus, 

Whatever  is  remarkable,  and  excellent  in  the  whole  sea, 

Is  a  matter  of  revenue,  wherever  it  swims. — Therefore  it  shall 
be  presented  55 

Lest  it  should  be  lost.  Deadly  autumn  was  now  yielding  to 
Hoar-frosts,  the  unhealthy  now  expecting  a  quartan, 

Deformed  winter  howled,  and  the  recent  prey 
Preserved :  yet  he  hastens  as  if  the  south  wind  urged. 

And  as  soon  as  they  had  got  to  the  lakes,  where,  tho’  demo¬ 
lished,  Alba 

Preserves  the  Trojan  fire,  and  worships  the  lesser  Vesta, 


Sat.  iv.]  JUVENAyS  SATIRES.  31 

A  wondering  crowd,  for  a  while,  opposed  him  as  he  entered : 
As  it  gave  way,  the  gates  opened  with  an  easy  hinge : 

The  excluded  fathers  behold  the  admitted  dainties. 

He  comes  to  Atrides :  then  the  Picenian  said,  “  Accept  65 

What  is  too  great  for  private  kitchens :  let  this  day  be  passed 
“  As  a  festival ;  hasten  to  release  your  stomach  from  its  cram¬ 
mings, 

“  And  consume  a  turbot  reserved  for  your  age : 

“  Itself  it  would  be  taken.” — What  could  be  plainer  ?  and  yet 
His  crest  arose  :  there  is  nothing  which  of  itself  it  may  not  70 
Believe,  when  a  power  equal  to  the  gods  is  praised. 

But  there  was  wanting  a  size  of  pot  for  the  fish :  therefore 
The  nobles  are  called  into  council,  whom  he  hated  : 

In  the  face  of  whom  was  sitting  the  paleness  of  a  miserable 
And  great  friendship. — First,  (a  Liburnian  crying  out —  75 

,l  Run — he  is  already  seated  ,”)  with  a  snatched-up  gown,  hast¬ 
ened 

Pegasus,  lately  appointed  bailiff  to  the  astonished  city — 

Were  the  Prasfects  then  any  thing  else? — of  whom  [he  was]  the 
best,  and 

Most  upright  interpreter  of  laws ;  tho’  all  things, 

In  direful  times,  he  thought  were  to  be  managed  with  unarmed 
Justice.  The  pleasant  old  age  of  Crispus  also  came,  81 

Whose  manners  were,  as  his  eloquence,  a  gentle 
Disposition :  to  one  governing  seas,  and  lands,  and  people, 

Who  a  more  useful  companion,  if,  under  that  slaughter  and  pes¬ 
tilence, 

It  were  permitted  to  condemn  cruelty,  and  to  give  honest  85 
Counsel?  But  what  is  more  violent  than  the  ear  of  a  tyrant, 
With  whom  the  fate  of  a  friend,  who  should  speak  of  showers, 
Or  heats,  or  of  a  rainy  spring,  depended  ? 

He  therefore  never  directed  his  arms  against 

The  torrent :  nor  was  he  a  citizen,  who  could  utter 

The  free  words  of  his  mind,  and  spend  his  life  for  the  truth. 

Thus  he  saw  many  winters,  and  the  eightieth 

Solstices  :  with  these  arms,  safe  also  in  that  court. 

Next,  of  the  same  age,  hurried  Acilius 

With  a  youth  unworthy,  whom  so  erul  a  death  should  await, 
And  now  hastened  by  the  swords  of  the  tyrant:  but  long  since  96 
Old  age  in  nobility  is  equal  to  a  prodigy  : 

Hence  it  is,  that  I  had  rather  be  a  little  brother  of  the  giants. 
Therefore  it  nothing  availed  the  wretch  that  he  pierced 
Numidian  bears  in  close  fight,  a  naked  hunter  in  the  Alban 
Theatre  :  for  who  cannot  now  understand  the  arts  10a 

Of  the  nobles  ?  who  can  wonder  at  that  old  subtlety  of  thine, 


32 


JUVENAL'S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  ivi 


G  Brutus  ?  It  is  easy  to  impose  on  a  bearded  king. 

Nor  better  in  countenance,  tho’  ignoble,  went 
Rubrius,  guilty  of  an  old  crime,  and  ever  to  be  kept  in  silence  r 
And  yet  more  wicked  than  the  pathic  writing  satire.  [ii 

The  belly  of  Montanus  too  is  present,  slow  from  his  paunch : 
And  Crispinus  sweating  with  morning  perfume : 

Two  funerals  scarcely  smell  so  much.  Pompeius  too, 

Than  him  more  cruel  to  cut  throats  with  a  gentle  whisper.  110 
And  Fuscus,  who  was  preserving  his  bowels  for  the  Dacian 
Vultures,  having  meditated  wars  in  his  marble  villa. 

And  prudent  Yeiento,  with  deadly  Catullus, 

Who  burn’d  with  the  love  of  a  girl  never  seen  ; 

A  great,. and  also,  in  our  times,  a  conspicuous  monster!  lls’ 
A  blind  flatterer,  a  dire  attendant  from  the  bridge, 

Worthy  that  he  should  beg  at  the  Aricinian  axles, 

And  throw  kirid  kisses  to  the  descending  carriage. 

Nobody  more  wonder’d  at  the  turbot  •  for  he  said  many  things 
Turned  to  the  left,  but  on  his  right  hand  lay  1201 

The  fish :  thus  he  praised  the  battles  and  strokes  of  the  Cilician, 
And  the  machine,  and  the  boys  snatched  up  to  the  coverings. 
Yeiento  does  not  yield,  but  as  a  fanatic  stung  with  thy  gad-fly,. 
O  Bellona,  divines,  and  says,  “  A  great  omen 
“You  have,  of  a  great  and  illustrious  triumph  r  l2y 

“You  will  take  some  king,  or  from  a  British  chariot. 

“  Arviragus  will  fall :  the  fish  is  foreign ;  do  you  perceive 
“The  spears  erect  on  his  back?”  This  one  thing  was  wanting 
To  Fabricius,  that  he  should  tell  the  country  of  the  turbot,  and 
its  age. 

“What  thinkest  thou  then?— Must  it  be  eut?”  “Far  from  it 
be  i3y 

“  This  disgrace,”  says  Montanus  r  “  let  a  deep  pot  be  prepared 
“  Which,  with  its  thin  wall,  may  collect  the  spacious  orb. 

“A  great  and  sudden  Prometheus  is  due  to  the  dish : 


“  Hasten  quickly  the  clay,  and  the  wheel :  but  now,  from  this 
“  Time,  Caesar,  let  potters  follow  your  camps.”  149 

The  opinion,  worthy  the  man,  prevailed  r  he  had  known 
The  old  luxury  of  the  empire,  and  the  nights  of  Nero 
How  half  spent,  and  another  hunger,  when  the  lungs  with 
Falernan 

Burned  r  none  had  a  greater  experience  in  eating 
In  my  time.  Whether  oysters  were  bred  at  Circaoi,  or  145 ' 

At  the  Lucrine  rock,  or  sent  forth  from  the  Rutupian  bottom, 
He  knew  well  to  discover  at  the  first  bite ; 

And  told  the  shore  of  a  sea-urchin  once  looked  at. 

They  rise — and  the  senators  are  commanded  to  depart  from 


Sat.  iv.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


33 


the  dismissed 

Council,  whom  the  great  general  into  the  Alban  tower  150 

Had  drawn  astonished,  and  compelled  to  hasten, 

As  if  something  concerning  the  Catti,  and  the  fierce  Sicambri 
He  was  about  to  say;  as  if  from  different  parts  of  the  world 
An  alarming  epistle  had  come  with  hasty  wing. 

And  I  wish  that  rather  to  these  trifles  he  had  given  all  those  155 
Times  of  cruelty,  in  which  he  took  from  the  city  renowned 
And  illustrious  lives  with  impunity,  and  with  no  avenger. 

But  he  perished,  after  that  to  be  fear’d  by  cobblers 
He  had  begun :  this  hurt  him  reeking  with  slaughter  of  the 
Lamise, 


SATIRE  Y. 


ARGUMENT. 

The  poet  dissuades  Trebius,  a  parasite,  from  frequenting  the  tables  of  the 
great,  where  he  was  certain  to  be  treated  with  the  utmost  scorn  and 
contempt.  Juvenal  then  proceeds  to  stigmatize  the  insolence  and  luxury 
ot  the  nobility,  their  treatment  of  their  poor  dependents,  whom  they  al¬ 
most  suffer  to  starve  while  they  themselves  fare  deliciously. 

If  you  are  not  yet  ashamed  of  your  purpose,  and  your  mind  is 
the  same, 

That  you  can  think  it  the  highest  happiness  to  live  from  ano¬ 
ther's  trencher ; 

It  you  can  suffer  those  things,  which  neither  Sarmentus  at  the 
unequal 

Tables  of  Cassar,  nor  vile  Galba  could  have  borne, 

I  should  be  afraid  to  believe  you  as  a  witness,  tho’  upon  oath. 

1  know  nothing  more  frugal  than  the  belly :  yet  suppose  even 
that  6 

To  have  failed,  which  suffices  for  an  empty  stomach, 

Is  there  no  hole  vacant  ?  no  where  a  bridge  ?  and  part  of  a  rug 
Shorter  by  the  half?  is  the  injury  of  a  supper  of  so  great  value? 
Is  hunger  so  craving,  when  you  might,  more  honestly,  there 
Both  tremble,  and  gnaw  the  filth  of  dogs’-meat?  11 

Fix  in  the  first  place,  that  you  bidden  to  sit  down  at  table, 
Receive  a  solid  reward  of  old  services : 

Food  is  the  fruit  of  great  friendship :  this  the  great  man  reckons, 
And  tho’  rare,  yet  he  reckons  it.  Therefore  if,  after  two 
Months,  he  likes  to  invite  a  neglected  client, 

Lest  the  third  pillow  should  be  idle  on  an  empty  bed, 

“  Let  us  be  together,”  says  he. — It  is  the  sum  of  your  wishes — 
what  more 

Do  you  seek  ?  Trebius  has  that,  for  which  he  ought  to  break 
His  sleep,  and  leave  loose  his  shoe-ties ;  solicitous  lest 
The  whole  saluting  crowd  should  have  finished  the  circle, 

The  stars  dubious,  or  at  that  time,  in  which  the 
Cold  wains  of  slow  Bootes  turn  themselves  round. 

Vet,  what  sort  of  a  supper?  wine  which  moist  wool 
Would  not  endure:  from  a  guest  you  will  see  a  Corybant. 
They  begin  brawls ;  but  presently  you  throw  cups, 


Sat.  v.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


35 


Wounded,  and  wipe  wounds  with  a  red  napkin. 

How  often,  between  you  and  a  troop  of  freedmen, 

Does  the  battle  glow,  which  is  fought  with  a  Saguntine  pot? 
He  drinks  what  was  racked  off  when  the  consul  wore  long 
hair,  30 

And  possesses  the  grape  trodden  in  the  social  wars, 

Never  about  to  send  a  cup  [of  it]  to  a  cholicky  friend. 
To-morrow  he’ll  drink  something  from  the  Alban  mountains, 
Or  from  the  Setine,  whose  country,  and  title,  old  age 
Has  blotted  out,  by  the  thick  mouldiness  of  the  old  cask.  35 
Such  Thraseas  and  Helvidius  drank,  crowned, 

On  the  birth-day  of  the  Bruti  and  Cassius.  Virro  himself 
Holds  capacious  pieces  of  the  Heliades,  and  cups  with  beryl 
Unequal :  to  you  gold  is  not  committed : 

Or  if  at  any  time  it  be  given,  a  guard  is  fixed  there,  40 

Who  may  count  the  gems,  and  observe  your  sharp  nails : 
Excuse  it,  for  there  a  bright  jasper  is  commended; 

For  Virro  (as  many  do)  transfers  his  gems  to  his  cups 
From  his  fingers ;  such  as,  in  the  front  of  his  scabbard, 

The  youth  preferr’d  to  jealous  Hiarbas  used  to  put.  45 

You  shall  drain  a  pot  with  four  handles,  having 
The  name  of  the  Beneventane  cobbler,  and  now 
Shattered,  and  requiring  sulphur  for  the  broken  glass. 

If  the  stomach  of  the  master  is  hot  with  wine,  or  meat, 

Boiled  [water]  is  sought,  colder  than  Getic  hoar-frosts.  50 

Was  I  just  now  complaining  that  not  the  same  wines  were  set 
before  you  ? 

You  drink  other  water.  To  you  the  cups  a  Getulian 
Lackey  will  give,  or  the  bony  hand  of  a  black  Moor, 

And  whom  you  would  be  unwilling  to  meet  at  midnight, 

While  you  are  carried  thro’  the  monuments  of  the  hilly  Latin 
way.  55 

A  flower  of  Asia  is  before  him,  purchased  at  a  greater  price, 
Than  was  the  estate  of  warlike  Tullus,  and  of  Ancus : 

And,  not  to  detain  you,  all  the  trifles  of  the  Roman 
Kings.  Which  since  it  is  so,  do  thou  the  Getulian  Ganymede 
Look  back  upon,  when  you  are  thirsty :  a  boy  bought  for  so 
many  60 

Thousands  knowi  not  to  mingle  [wine]  for  the  poor :  but  his 
form,  his  age, 

Are  worthy  disdain.  When,  does  he  come  to  you  ? 

When,  being  called,  does  he  attend  [as]  the  minister  of  hot  or 
cold  water? 

For  he  scorns  to  obey  an  old  client; 

And  that  you  should  ask  for  any  thing,  or  that  you  should  lie 
down,  himself  standing.  64 


36 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  v. 


Every  very  great  house  is  full  of  proud  servants. 

Behold,  with  what  grumbling  another  has  reached  out  bread. 
Hardly  broken,  pieces  of  solid  meal  already  musty,  . 

Which  will  shake  a  grinder,  not  admitting  a  bite. 

But  the  tender  and  white,  and  made  with  soft  flour, 

Is  kept  for  the  master.  Remember  to  restrain  your  right  hand : 
Let  reverence  of  the  butler  be  safe. — Yet,  suppose  yourself 
A  little  knavish ;  there  remains  one  who  can  compel  you  to  lay 
it  down. 

“  Wilt  thou,  impudent  guest,  from  the  accustomed  baskets 
“  Be  filled,  and  know  the  colour  of  your  own  bread  ?”  75 

“Well,  this  has  been  that,  for  which  often,  my  wife  being  left, 
“I  have  run  over  the  adverse  mount,  and  the  cold 
“  Esquiliie,  when  the  vernal  air  rattled  with  cruel 
“  Hail,  and  my  cloak  dropped  with  much  rain.” 

See,  with  how  long  a  breast,  a  lobster,  which  is  brought  80 
To  the  master,  distends  the  dish,  and  with  what  asparagus 
On  all  sides  surrounded;  with  what  a  tail  he  can  look  down  on 
the  banquet, 

When  he  comes  borne  aloft  by  the  hands  of  a  tall  servant. 

But  to  you  is  set  a  shrunk  crab,  with  half  an  egg, 

A  funeral  supper  in  a  little  platter.  85 

He  besmears  his  fish  with  Venefran  (oil) — but  this 
Pale  cabbage,  which  is  brought  to  miserable  you,  will  smell 
Of  a  lamp,  for  that  is  given  for  your  saucers,  which 
A  canoe  of  the  Micipsae  brought  over  in  its  sharp  prow. 

For  which  reason,  nobody  at  Rome  bathes  with  a  Bocchar,  90 
Which  also  makes  the  Africans  safe  from  serpents. 

A  mullet  will  be  for  the  master,  which  Corsica  sent,  or  which 
The  Taurominitinian  rocks,  since  all  our  sea  is  exhausted, 

And  now  has  failed :  while  the  appetite  rages, 

The  market,  with  assiduous  is  searching  thoroughly 
The  neighbouring  (seas),  nor  suffers  a  Tyrrhene  fish  to  grow : 
Therefore  a  province  furnishes  the  kitchen  :  from  thence  is  taken 
What  the  wheedler  Lenas  might  buy,  Aurelia  sell. 

To  Virro  a  lamprey  is  given,  the  largest  that  came 
From  the  Sicilian  gulf :  for  while  the  south  contains  itself, 
While  it  rests,  and  in  its  prison  dries  its  wet  wings, 

The  rash  nets  despise  the  middle  of  Charybdis. 

An  eel  remains  for  you,  a  relation  of  a  long  snake ; 

Or  a  Tiberine  sprinkled  with  spots  by  the  ice,  and  that 
An  attendant  of  the  banks,  fat  with  the  rushing  common-sew¬ 
er,  10s 

And  accustomed  to  penetrate  the  drain  of  the  Suburra. 

I  would  say  a  few  words  to  himself,  if  he  would  lend  an  easy 
ear: 


Sat.  v.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


37 


Nobody  seeks,  what  were  sent  to  his  mean  friends 
By  Seneca :  what  good  Piso,  what  Cotta  used 
To  bestow :  for,  than  both  titles  and  offices,  formerly, 

Greater  was  the  glory  of  giving  esteemed :  only 
We  ask  that  you  should  sup  civilly:  do  this,  and  be, 

Be  (as  many  now  are)  rich  to  yourself,  poor  to  your  friends. 
Before  himself  (is  placed)  the  liver  of  a  great  goose :  equal  to 
geese,  114 

A  crammed  fowl,  and,  worthy  the  spear  of  a  yellow  Meleager, 
Smokes  a  boar:  after  him  truffles  are  scraped,  if  then 
It  be  spring,  and  wished-for  thunders  make  suppers 
Greater : — “  Have  thy  corn  to  thyself,”  says  Alledius, 

“  O  Libya,  unyoke  your  oxen,  while  you  will  send  truffles.” 
Meanwhile  the  carver,  lest  any  indignation  be  wanting,  120 
You  will  behold  dancing,  and  flourishing  with  a  nimble 
Knife,  till  he  can  finish  all  the  dictates  of  his 
Master;  nor  indeed  is  it  a  matter  of  the  least  concern, 

With  what  gesture  hares,  and  with  what  a  hen  should  be  cut. 
You  will  be  dragged  by  the  foot,  as  the  stricken  Cacus  by  Her¬ 
cules,  121 

And  put  out  of  doors,  if  you  ever  attempt 
To  mutter,  as  if  you  had  three  names. — When  does  Virro 
Drink  to  you,  and  take  the  cup  touched  by  your 
Lips?  which  of  you  is  rash  enough,  who  so 
Desperate,  as  to  say  to  the  great  man,  drink  ?  Many  things 
there  are,  130 

Which  men  in  a  tom  coat  dare  not  say. 

If  to  you  four  hundred  (sestertia)  any  god,  or  one  like  the  gods, 
And  better  than  the  fates,  should  present ;  poor  mortal,  how 
great 

From  nothing  would  you  become!  how  great  a  friend  of  Virro ! 
“  Give  to-  Trebius — set  before  Trebius  :• — would  you  have,  bro¬ 
ther,  some 

“  Of  those  dainties?” — O  riches!  he  gives  this  honour  to  you 
Ye  are  brethren.  But  if  a  lord,  and  sovereign  of  a  lord 
You  would  become,  in  your  hall  no  little 
./Eneas  must  play,  nor  a  daughter  sweeter  than  he. 

A  barren  wife  makes  a  pleasant  and  dear  friend. 

But  tho’  your  Micale  should  bring  forth,  and  should  pour 
Three  boys  together  into  the  bosom  of  their  father,  he  in  the 
prattling 

Nest  will  rejoice :  he’ll  command  a  green  stomacher 
To  be  brought,  and  small  nuts,  and  the  asked-for  penny, 

As  often  as  the  infant  parasite  comes  to  his  table. 

Doubtful  funguses  are  put  to  mean  friends, 


135 


J40 


145 


38 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  v . 


A  mushroom  to  the  lord ;  but  such  as  Claudius  ate 
Before  that  of  his  wife,  after  which  he  ate  nothing  more. 

Firro  will  order  to  himself,  and  the  rest  of  the  Virros,  those 
Apples  to  be  given,  with  the  odour  alone  of  which  you  may  be 
fed,  150 

Such  as  the  perpetual  autumn  of  the  Phseacians  had, 

Which  you  might  believe  to  be  stolep  from  the  African  sisters. 
You  will  enjoy  the  scab  of  an  apple,  which  in  a  trench  he 
gnaws 

Who  is  covered  with  a  shield  and  helmet,  and,  fearing  the  whip, 
Learns  from  the  rough  Capella  to  throw  a  dart.  115 

Perhaps  you  may  think  Virro  spares  expense : 

He  does  this  that  you  may  grieve :  for  what  comedy — what 
Mimic  is  better,  than  deploring  gluttony?  therefore  all  is  done, 
If  you  know  not,  that  by  tears  to  pour  forth  vexation 
You  may  be  compell’d,  and  long  to  creak  with  a  press’d  grind¬ 
er.  160 

You  seem  to  yourself  a  free  man,  and  a  guest  of  the  great 
man; 

He  thinks  you  are  taken  with  the  smell  of  his  kitchen, 

Nor  does  he  guess  badly ;  for  who  so  naked,  that  would 
Bear  him  twice  if  the  Etruscan  gold  befel  him  when  a  boy, 

Or  the  nodus  only,  and  the  mark  from  the  poor  strap  ?  155 

The  hope  of  supping  well  deceives  you :  “  Lo — now  he  will  give 
“ An  half-eaten  hare,  or  something  from  the  buttocks  of  a  boar : 
“  To  us  will  now  come  the  lesser  fat  fowl” — then  with  prepared 
And  untouched,  and  cut  bread,  ye  are  silent. 

He  is  wise,  who  uses  you  thus :  all  things,  if  you  can,  170 
You  also  ought  to  bear:  with  a  shaven  crown  you  will  some 
time 

Offer  your  head  to  be  beat,  nor  will  you  fear  hard 
Lashes  to  endure,  worthy  these  feasts,  and  such  a  friend. 


SATIHE  YI. 


ARGUMENT. 

This  Satire  is  almost  twice  the  length  of  any  of  the  rest,  and  is  a  bitter 
invective  against  the  fair  sex.  The  ladies  of  Rome  are  here  represented 
in  a  very  shocking  light.  The  poet  takes  occasion  to  persuade  his  friend 
Ursidius  Postlnimus  from  marriage,  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  sex. 
See  Mr.  Dryden’s  Argument. 

i  believe  that  chastity,  in  the  reign  of  Saturn,  dwelt 
Upon  earth,  and  was  seen  long ;  when  a  cold  den  afforded 
Small  habitations,  and  fire,  and  the  household-god, 

And  inclosed  the  cattle,  and  their  masters,  in  one  common 
shelter : 

When  the  mountain-wife  would  make  her  rural  bed  5 

With  leaves  and  straw,  and  with  the  skins  of  her  neighbouring 
Wild  beasts,  nor  like  thee,  Cynthia,  nor  thee,  whose  bright 
Eyes  a  dead  sparrow  made  foul  (with  weeping :) 

But  carrying  her  dugs  to  be  drunk  by  her  great  children, 

And  often  more  rough  than  her  husband  belching  the  acorn.  10 
For  then,  in  the  new  orb  of  earth,  and  recent  heaven, 

Men  lived  otherwise — who,  born  from  a  bursten  oak, 

And  composed  out  of  clay,  had  no  parents. 

Perhaps  many  traces  of  chastity  remained, 

Or  some,  even  under  Jupiter,  but  Jupiter  not  as  yet  15 

Bearded ;  the  Greeks  not  as  yet  prepared  to  swear 
By  the  head  of  another:  when  nobody  feared  a  thief 
For  his  herbs,  or  apples,  but  lived  with  an  open  garden. 

Then,  by  little  and  little,  Astrsea  retired  to  the  gods, 

With  this  her  companion,  and  the  two  sisters  fled  away  to¬ 
gether.  29 

It  is  an  old  ancient  practice,  O  Posthumus,  to  violate  the  bed 
Of  another,  and  to  despise  the  genius  of  the  sacred  prop. 

Every  other  crime  the  Iron  Age  presently  brought  in, 

The  Silver  Age  saw  the  first  adulterers. 

Yet  a  meeting,  and  a  contract,  and  espousals,  in  our  25 

Time  you  prepare :  and  already  by  a  master  barber 
You  are  combed :  and  perhaps  have  given  the  pledge  to  the 
finger. 

You  certainly  was  once  sound  (of  mind.)  Do  you,  Posthumus, 
marry  ? 


40 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi. 


Say,  by  what  Tisiphone,  by  what  snakes  are  you  agitated  ? 
Can  you  bear  any  mistress,  when  so  many  halters  are  safe  ? 
When  so  many  high  and  dizzening  windows. are  open? 

When  the  iEmilian  bridge  presents  itself  near  you? 

Or  if,  of  so  many,  no  one  death  pleases  you,  do  not  you 
Think  it  better  to  live  as  you  now  do? 

With  those  who  have  no  nightly  quarrels  with  you, 

Who  exact  no  presents,  nor  complain  that 

You  don’t  comply  with  all  their  unreasonable  desires? 

But  the  Julian  law  pleases  Ursidius,  he  thinks 
To  bring  up  a  sweet  heir,  about  to  want  a  large  turtle  fish, 
And  the  crests  of  mullets,  and  the  inveigling  market-place.  4G 
What  think  you  may  not  come  to  pass,  if  any  woman 
Be  joined  to  Ursidius  ?  If  he,  once  the  most  noted  of  adulterers, 
Now  reach  his  foolish  head  to  the  marriage  headstall, 

Whom,  so  often,  ready  to  perish,  the  chest  of  Latinus  has  con¬ 
cealed  ?  44 

What  (shall  we  say  beside?) — that  a  wife  of  ancient  morals  too 
Is  sought  by  him? — O  physicians,  open  the  middle  vein  ! 
Delightful  man !  adore  the  Tarpeian  threshold 
Prone,  and  slay  for  Juno  a  gilded  heifer, 

If  a  matron  of  chaste  life  fall  to  your  share. 

There  are  so  few  worthy  to  touch  the  fillets  of  Ceres, 

Whose  kisses  a  father  would  not  fear.  Weave  a  crown 
For  your  gates,  and  spread  thick  ivy  over  your  threshold. 

Does  one  man  suffice  for  Iberina  ?  you  will  sooner  that 
Extort,  that  she  should  be  content  with  one  eye. 

But  there  is  great  fame  of  a  certain  (girl)  living  at  her  fathers 
Country  house :  let  her  live  at  Gabii  as  she  lived  in  the  country: 
Let  her  live  at  Fidense,  and  I  yield  the  father’s  country  seat. 
But  who  affirms  that  nothing  is  done  in  mountains,  or  in 
Dens  ?  Are  Jupiter  and  Mars  grown  so  old  ? 

Is  there  a  woman  shewn  to  you  in  the  Porticos  worthy 
Your  wish?  have  the  spectacles,  in  all  the  benches, 

That  which  you  might  love  securely,  and  what  you  might  pick 
out  from  thence  ? 

When  the  soft  Bathyllus  dances  the  nimble  Leda, 

Tuccia  can’t  contain  herself:  Appula  whines 

As  if  embraced :  the  quick,  the  languishing  Thymelc 

Long  attends:  then  the  rustic  Thymele  learns. 

But  others,  as  soon  as  the  lock’d-up  curtains  cease, 

And  the  courts  alone  sound,  the  theatre  being  empty  and  shut 
up, 

And  the  Megalesian  games,  long  from  the  Plebian,  sad 
They  possess  the  mask,  or  thyrsus,  and  sash  of  Acciits. 


70 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


41 


Sat.  vi.] 

‘Urbicus  excites  laughter  in  an  interlude  by  the  gestures 
Of  Atellon  Autonoe :  poor  iElia  loves  him. 

The  button  of  the  comedian  is  loosen’d  for  these  at  a  great 
price.  There  are,  who 

Will  forbid  Chrysogonus  to  sing.  Hispulla  rejoices  74 

In  a  tragedian:  do  you  expect  that  Quintilian  can  be  loved? 
You  take  a  wife,  by  whom  the  harper  Echion, 

Or  Glaphyras,  will  become  a  father ;  or  Ambrosius  the  piper. 
Let  us  fix  long  stages  thro’  the  narrow  streets, 

Let  the  posts  be  adorned,  and  the  gate  with  the  grand  laurel, 
That  to  thee,  O  Lentulus,  in  his  vaulted  canopy, 

The  noble  infant  may  express  the  sword-player  Euryalus. 

Hippia,  married  to  a  senator,  accompanied  a  gladiator 
To  Pharos  and  the  Nile,  and  the  famous  walls  of  Lagus, 
Canopus  condemning  the  prodigies  and  manners  of  the  city. 
She,  unmindful  of  her  family,  of  her  husband,  of  her  sister,  8* 
Indulged  not  (a  thought)  to  her  country,  and,  wicked,  her  weep¬ 
ing  children 

Left,  and,  to  astonish  you  the  more,  the  games,  and  Paris. 

But  tho’  in  great  riches,  and  paternal  down, 

And,  when  a  little  one,  she  had  slept  in  an  embroider’d  cradle, 
Sha  despised  the  sea :  she  had  long  ago  contemn’d  her  character, 
The  loss  of  which  is  the  least  of  all  things  among  fine  ladies : 
The  Tyrrhene  waves  therefore,  and  the  widely  sounding 
Ionian  she  bore,  with  a  constant  mind,  allho’ 

The  sea  was  so  often  to  be  changed.  If  there  ha  a  just 
And  honest  cause  of  danger,  they  fear ;  and  are  frozen  with 
timorous  ,5 

Breast,  nor  can  they  stand  on  their  trembling  feet : 

They  shew  a  dauntless  mind  in  things  that  they  shamefully 
adventure. 

If  the  husband  command,  it  is  hard  to  go  aboard  a  ship ; 

Then  the  sink  of  the  ship  is  burthensome— tfien  the  top  air  is 
turned  round. 

She  that  follows  an  adulterer,  is  well  at  her  stomach:  she  be- 
spews  100 

Her  husband :  this  dines  among  the  sailors,  and  wanders 
About  the  ship,  and  delights  to  handle  the  hard  cables. 

But  with  what  a  form  was  she  on  fire  ?  with  what  youth  was 
Hippia  taken? — What  did  she  see,  for  the  sake  of  whidh  to  be 
called  an  actress 

She  endured  ?  for  Sergy  to  shave  his  throat  already  had  103 

Begun,  and  to  hope  for  rest  to  his  cut  arm. 

Beside  many  deformities  in  his  face  ;  as,  galled 
With  his  helmet,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  nostrils  a  great 

4 


42 


JUVENAL'S  SATIRES, 


[Sat.  vt- 


Wen,  and  the  sharp  evil  of  his  ever-dropping  eye. 

But  he  was  a  gladiator,  this  makes  them  Hyacinths. 

This  she  preferrid  to  her  children,,  her  country,  her  sister, 

And  her  husband ;  it  is  the  sword  they  love :  but  this  very 
Sergius, 

The  wand  accepted,  had  begun  to  seem  Veiento. 

Care  you  what  a  private  family,  what  Hippia  has  done? 
Consider  the  rivals  of  the  gods ;  hear  what  things 
Claudius  has  suffered :  the  wife,  when  she  had  perceived  her 
husband  asleep, 

(The  august  harlot  daring,  to  prefer  a  coarse  rug  to  the 
Bed  of  state,  to  take  nocturnal  hoods,) 

Left,  him,  attended  by  not  more  than  one  maid-servant, 

And  a  yellow  peruke  hiding  her  black  hair,  120 

She  entered  the  brothel  warm  with  an  old  patched  quilt, 

And  the  empty  cell  which  was  hers ;  then  she  stood  naked 
With  her  breast  adorned  with  gold,  shamming  the  name  of 
Lycisca, 

And  shews  thy  belly,  O  noble  Britannicus. 

Kind  she  received  the  comers  in,  and  asked  for  money :  125 

Presently,  the  bawd  now  dismissing  his  girls, 

She  went  away  sad:  but  (which  she  could)  she  nevertheless 
Last  shut  up  her  cell,  still  burning  with  desire, 

And  she  retired,  weary,  but  not  satiated  with  men : 

And  filthy  with  soiled  cheeks,  and  with  the  smoke  of  the  lamp  130 
Dirty,  she  carried  to  the  pillow  the  stench  of  the  brothel. 

Shall  I  speak  of  philtres  and  charms,  and  poison  boiled, 

And  given  to  a  son-in-law  ?  they  do  worse  things,  compelled 
By  the  empire  of  the  sex,  they  sin  least  of  all  from  lust. 

But  why  is  Cesennia  the  best  (of  wives)  her  husband  being 
witness  ?  135 

She  gave  twice  five  hundred,  for  so  much  he  calls  her  chaste. 
Nor  is  he  lean  from  the  shafts  of  Venus,  nor  does  he  glow  with 
the  lamp  ; 

From  thence  torches  burn;  arrows  come  from  her  dowry. 
Liberty  is  bought:  tho’  she  nod  before  (her  husband)  and 
Write  an  answer,  she  is  a  widow,  who,  rich,  hath  married  a 
miser.  149 

Why  doth  Sertorius  burn  with  the  desire  of  Bibula? 

If  you  examine  the  truth,  the  face,  not  the  wife,  is  beloved. 

Let  three  wrinkles  come  on,  and  her  dry  skin  relax  itself, 

Let  her  teeth  become  black,  and  her  eyes  less — 

“Collect  together  your  bundles,  the  freedman  will  say,  and  go 
“forth:  '  .  l4i 

“Ycu  are  now  troublesome  to  us,  and  often  wipe  your  nose,  go 
forth 


Sat.  vi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


43 


15* 


no 


u  Quickly — and  make  haste — another  is  coming  with  a  dry- 
nose.” 

In  the  mean  time  she  is  hot,  and  reigns,  and  demands  of  her 
husband 

Shepherds,  and  Canusian  sheep,  and  Falernan  elms. 

How  little  (is  there)  in  this  ?  all  boys,  whole  workhouses,  150 
And  what  is  not  at  home,  and  her  neighbour  has,  must  be 
bought. 

Indeed,  in  the  month  of  winter,  when  now  the  merchant  Jason 
Is  shut  up,  and  the  white  house  hinders  the  armed  sailors, 
Great  crystals  are  taken  up,  and  again  large  (vessels) 

Of  myrrh  then  a  famous  adamant,  and  on  the  linger  of  Bere¬ 
nice 

Made  more  precious:  this  formerly  a  Barbarian  gave, 

This  Agrippa  gave  to  hisincestuous  sister, 

Where  kings  observe  their  festival-sabbaths  barefoot, 

And  an  ancient  clemency  is  indulgent  to  old  swine. 

Does  none  from  so  great  herds  seem  to  you  worthy  ? 

Let  her  be  handsome,  decent,  rich,  fruitful:  in  porticos 
Let  her  dispose  her  old  ancestors,  more  chaste 
Than  every  Sabine,  with  dishevelled  hair,  who  put  an  end  to 
the  war: 

(A  rare  bird  in  the  earth,  and  very  like  a  black  swan) — 

Who  could  bear  a  wife  that  has  all  these  ?  I’d  rather, 

Rather  have  a  Venusian  (girl)  than  you,  Cornelia,  mother 
Of  the  Gracchi,  if,  with  great  virtues,  you  bring 
Great  haughtiness,  and  you  number  triumphs  as  part  of  your 
dowry. 

Take  away,  I  pray,  your  Hannibal,  and  Syphax  conquer’d 
In  his  camp,  and  depart  with  the  whole  of  Carthage. 

“  Spare,  I  pray,  O  Pasan ;  and  thou,  goddess,  lay  down  thine 
arrows ;  v 

“  The  children  do  nothing,  pierce  the  mother  herself;” 

Cries  Amphian:  but  Apollo  draws  his  bow, 

And  took  off  the  herd  of  children,  and  the  parent  himself, 
While  Niobe  seems  to  herself  more  noble  than  the  race  of  La- 
tona,  l7f 

And  more  fruitful  than  the  white  sow. 

What  gravity — what  beauty  is  of  such  value,  as  that  she  should 
always  herself  to  you 

Impute?  for  of  this  rare  and  highest  good  there  is 
No  comfort,  as  often  as,  corrupted  with  a  proud  mind, 

She  has  more  of  aloes,  than  of  honey.  But  who  is  given  up 
To  such  a  degree,  as  not  to  abhor  her  whom  he  extols 
With  praises,  and  hate  her  for  seven  hours  every  day  ? 


m 


170 


1T9 


44 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  yj>  « 


190 


l9f 


Soule  things  indeed  are  small ;  but  not  to  be  borne  by  husbands : 
Por  what  can  be  more  fulsome,  than  that  none  should  think 
herself  184 

Handsome,  unless  she  who  from  a  Tuscan  becomes  a  Grecian  ? 
From  a  Sulmonian,  a  mere  Athenian?  every  thing  in  Greek; 
Since  it  is  less  disgraceful  to  our  ladies  to  be  ignorant  of  speak¬ 
ing  Latin. 

In  this  dialect  they  fear,  in  this  they  pour  forth  their  anger,  joy, 
cares, 

In  this  all  the  secrets  of  their  minds.  What  beside  ? 

They  prostitute  themselves  in  Greek.  Yet  you  may  indulge 
those  things  to  girls : 

But  do  you  too,  whose  eighty-sixth  year 
Beats,  speak  Greek  still  ?  This  is  not  a  decent  dialect 
In  an  old  woman :  as  often  as  intervenes  the  wanton 
ZOH  KAI  TTXH,  words  just  now  left  under  the  coverlet 
You  use  in  public:  for  what  passion  does  not  a  soft  and  lewd 
Word  excite?  It  has  fingers. — Nevertheless,  that  all 
Desires  may  subside  (though  you  may  say  these  things  softer 
Than  iEmus,  and  Carpophorus)  your  face  computes  your  years. 

If  one,  contracted,  and  joined  to  you  by  lawful  deeds, 

You  are  not  about  to  love,  of  marrying  there  appears  no 
Cause,  nor  why  you  should  lose  a  supper,  and  bride-cakes, 

To  be  given  to  weak  stomachs,  their  office  ceasing ;  nor  that 
Which  is  given  for  the  first  night,  when  the  Dacic  in  the  happy 
dish, 

And  the  Germanic  shines  with  the  inscribed  gold. 

If  you  have  uxorious  simplicity,  your  mind  is  devoted 
To  her  alone:  submit  your  head,  with  a  neck  prepared 
To  bear  the  yoke :  you’ll  find  none  who  can  spare  a  lover. 

Tho’  she  should  burn,  she  rejoices  in  the  torments 
And  spoils  of  a  lover :  therefore  a  wife  is  by  far  less  useful 
To  him,  whoever  will  be  a  good  and  desirable  husband. 

You  will  never  bestow  any  thing  against  your  wife’s  will :  you 
will  sell 

Nothing  if  she  opposes :  nothing,  if  she  be  unwilling,  will  be 
bought: 

She  will  give  affections :  that  friend  will  be  shut  out, 

Now  grown  old,  whose  beard  your  gate  hath  seen. 

When  there  is  liberty  to  pimps  and  fencers  to  make  a  will, 

And  the  same  right  happens  to  the  amphitheatre, 

Not  one  rival  only  will  be  dictated  as  your  heir. 

“Set  up  a  cross  for  your  slave:” — “for  what  crime  has  the 
“  slave  deserved 

“Punishment?  what  witness  is  there?  who  accused? — hear — 


2of 


210 


Sat.  vi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


45 


11  No  delay  is  ever  long  concerning  the  death  of  a  man.”  220 
-:0  madman! — so,  a  slave  is  a  man!  be  it  so — he  has  done 
“  nothing ; 

u  This  I  will — thus  I  command — let  my  will  stand  as  a  reason.” 
Therefore  she  governs  her  husband:  but  presently  leaves  these 
realms, 

And  changes  houses,  and  wears  out  her  bridal  veils :  from  thence 
She  dies  away,  and  seeks  again  the  footsteps  of  her  despised 
bed.  221 

The  doors,  a  little  before  adorned,  the  pendent  veils 
Of  the  house  she  leaves,  and  the  boughs  yet  green  at  the 
threshold. 

Thus  the  number  increases,  thus  eight  husbands  are  made 
In  five  autumns — a  matter  worthy  the  title  of  a  sepulchre. 

You  must  despair  of  concord  while  a  mother-in-law  lives: 
She  teaches  to  rejoice  in  the  plunder  of  the  stripped  husband: 
She  teaches,  to  letters  sent  by  a  corrupter, 

To  write  back  nothing  ill-bred  or  simple :  she  deceives 
Keepers,  or  quiets  them  with  money.  Then,  while  in  health, 
She  sends  for  Archigenes,  and  throws  away  the  heavy  clothes. 
Meanwhile  the  sent-for  adulterer  lies  hidden, 

Is  silent,  impatient  of  delay,  and  prepares  for  the  attempt. 

But  do  you  expect  that  a  mother  should  infuse  honest 
Morals,  or  other  than  what  she  has  herself?  moreover,  it  is 
profitable 

For  a  base  old  woman  to  bring  up  a  base  daughter. 

There  is  almost  no  cause  in  which  a  woman  has  not  stirr’d  up 
The  suit.  Manilia  accuses,  if  she  be  not  the  accused. 

They  by  themselves  compose,  and  form  libels, 

Prepared  to  dictate  to  Celsus,  the  beginning,  and  the  places. 

The  Tyrian  rugs,  and  the  female  ceroma,  245 

Who  knows  not  ?  or  who  does  not  see  the  wounds  of  the  stake, 
Which  she  hollows  with  continual  wooden-swords,  and  provokes 
with  the  shield  ? 

And  fills  up  all  her  parts ;  altogether  a  matron  most  worthy 
The  Floralian  trumpet;  unless  she  may  agitate  something 
more 

In  that  breast  of  hers ;  and  be  prepared  for  the  real  theatre. 
What  modesty  can  an  helmeted  woman  shew,  251 

Who  deserts  her  sex,  and  loves  feats  of  strength  ?  yet  she  her¬ 
self 

Would  not  become  a  man :  for  how  little  is  our  pleasure ! 

What  a  fine  show  of  things,  if  there  should  be  an  auction  of 
your  wife’s, 

Her  belt,  her  gauntlets,  and  crests,  and  the  half  covering  215 


46 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi. 


Of  her  left  leg?  or,  if  she  will  stir  up  different  battles, 

Happy  you,  your  wench  selling  her  boots. 

These  are  the  women  who  sweat  in  a  thin  gown,  whose 
Delicate  bodies  even  a  little  piece  of  silk  burns. 

Behold,  with  what  a  noise  she  can  convey  the  shewn  hits,  260 
And  with  what  a  weight  of  helmet  she  can  be  bent ;  how  great 
She  can  sit  on  her  hams:  her  swathe  with  how  thick  a  fold: 
And  laugh,  when,  her  arms  laid  down,  a  female  head-dress  is 
taken. 

Say,  ye  grand-daughters  of  Lepidus,  or  of  blind  Metellus, 

Or  Fabius  Gurges,  what  actress  ever  took  265 

These  habits  ?  when  would  the  wife  of  Asyllus  groan  at  a  post  ? 

The  bed  has  always  strifes,  and  alternate  quarrels, 

In  which  a  wife  lies :  there  is  little  sleep  there. 

Then  she  is  grievous  to  her  husband,  then  worse  than  a  be¬ 
reaved  tigress, 

When,  conscious  of  an  hidden  fact,  she  feigns  groans,  270 

Or  hates  the  servants,  or,  a  mistress  being  pretended,  she  weeps 
With  ever  fruitful  tears,  and  always  ready 
In  their  station,  and  waiting  for  her, 

In  what  manner  she  may  command  them  to  flow :  you  think  (it) 
love — 

Tou  then,  O  hedge-sparrow,  please  yourself,  and  suck  up  the 
tears  275 

With  your  lips :  what  writings  and  what  letters  would  you  read 
If  the  desks  of  the  jealous  strumpet  were  opened ! — 

But  she  lies  in  the  embraces  of  a  slave,  or  of  a  knight;  “Tell, 
“Tell  us,  I  pray,  here,  Quintilian,  some  colour.” 

“We  stick  fast:” — “say  yourself:”  “ formerly  it  was  agreed,” 
says  she,  280 

“  That  you  should  do  what  you  would ;  and  I  also  might 
“Indulge  myself:  though  you  should  clamour,  and  confound 
“The  sea  with  heaven,  I  am  a  woman.”  Nothing  is  more  bold 
Than  they  are  when  discovered ;  they  assume  anger  and  cour¬ 
age  from  their  crime. 

Do  you  ask — whence  these  monstrous  things,  or  from  what 
source  ?  285 

An  humble  fortune  rendered  the  Latin  woman  chaste 
Formerly,  nor  did  labour  suffer  their  small  houses 
To  be  touched  with  vices ;  short  of  sleep,  and  with  the  Tuscan 
fleece 

Their  hands  chafed  and  hard,  and  Hannibal  very  near  the  city, 
And  their  husbands  standing  in  the  Colline  tow’r. 

Now  we  suffer  the  evils  of  a  long  peace :  more  cruel  than  arms. 
Luxury  hath  invaded  us,  and  avenges  the  conquer’d  world. 


Sat.  vi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


47 


29i 


so® 


sot 


S'JO 


No  crime  is  absent,  or  foul  deed  of  lust,  since 
Roman  poverty  was  lost.  Hence  flow’d  to  these 
Hills,  Sybaris,  hence  Rhodes  too,  and  hence  Miletus, 

And  the  crowned,  and  petulant,  and  drunken  Tarentum. 

Filthy  money  foreign  manners  first 
Brought  in,  and  soft  riches  weakened  the  ages  with 
Base  luxury. .  For  what  does  a  drunken  woman  regard  ? 

■She  knows  not  the  difference  between  her  top  and  bottom. 

She  who  eats  large  oysters  at  midnights, 

When  ointments,  mixed  with  Falernan  wine,  foam, 

When  she  drinks  out  of  a  shell,  when  now,  with  a  whirl,  the 
house 

Walks  round,  and  the  table  rises  up  with  double  candles. 

Go  now,  and  doubt  with  what  a  scoff  Tullia  sups  up 
The  air ;  what  Collacia  may  say  to  her  acquaintance  Maura, 
When  Maura  passes  by  the  old  altar  of  Chastity. 

Here  they  put  down  their  sedans  o’  nights,  here  they  stain 
And  defile  the  image  of  the  goddess,  and  each  other, 

With  their  impurities,  the  moon  being  witness. 

Thence  they  go  away  home.  You  tread,  when  the  light  re¬ 
turns, 

In  the  urine  of  your  wife,  as  you  go  to  see  your  great  friends. 
The  secrets  of  the  good  goddess  are  known,  when  the  pipe 
the  loins 

Incites ;  and  also  with  the  horn,  and  with  wine,  the  Maenads  of 
Priapus 

Are  driven,  astonished,  and  toss  their  hair  and  howl.  3U 

O  what  unchaste  desires  in  their  minds  are  raised ! 

What  a  voice  do  they  utter  forth !  how  great 
A  torrent  of  filthiness  flows  all  about  them. 

Laufella  proposes  a  prize  among  the  most  impudent  strumpets. 
And,  in  the  impure  contention,  obtains  the  victory :  *2C 

She  is  all  in  rapture  when  Medullina  acts  her  part 
The  more  vile,  the  more  honour  they  obtain. 

Nothing  is  feigned,  all  things  are  done 
To  the  truth,  by  which  might  be  fired,  now  cold  with  age, 
Priam,  and  the  hernia  of  Nestor.  32J 

.  Then  their  situation  makes  them  impatient :  then  the  woman  is 
undisguised, 

And  a  clamour  is  repeated  together  thro’  all  the  den : 
lt  Now  ’tis  right,  admit  the  men :  is  the  adulterer  asleep  al- 
“  ready  ?” — 

She  bids  a  youth  hasten  with  an  assumed  hood : 

If  there  be  none,  she  rushes  on  slaves:  if  you  take  away  the 
hope 


33® 


48 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi- 


Of  having  slaves,  let  an  hired  water-bearer  come :  if  he 
Be  sought,  and  men  are  wanting,  there’s  no  delay  thro’  her, 
That  she  cannot  prostitute  herself  to  an  ass. 

1  could  wish  the  ancient  rites,  and  the  public  worship, 

Might  at  least  be  observed  untouched  by  these  evils :  but  all 
The  Moors,  and  Indians,  know  what  singing- wench  brought 
A  stock  of  impudence,  more  full  than  the  two  Anticatos  of 
Caesar, 

Thither,  from  whence  a  mouse  flieth,  conscious  that  he  is  a 
male ; 

Where  every  picture  is  commanded  to  be  cover’d, 

Which  imitates  the  figure  of  the  other  sex.  S4a 

And  who  of  men  was  then  a  despiser  of  the  deity  ?  or  who 
Dared  to  deride  the  wooden  bowl  of  Numa,  and  the  black  dish. 
And  the  brittle  ware  from  the  Vatican  mount? 

But  now  at  what  altars  is  there  not  a  Clodius? 

I  hear  what  ancient  friends  would  formerly  advise. 

Put  a  lock — restrain  her.  But  who  will  keep  her  very 
Keepers  ?  your  wife  is  sly,  and  begins  from  these. 

And,  now-a-days,  there  is  the  same  lust  in  the  highest  and  in 
the  lowest. 

Nor  is  she  better  who  wears  out  the  black  flint  with  her  foot, 
Than  she  who  is  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  tall  Syrians.  5,0 
That  she  may  see  plays,  Ogulnia  hires  a  garment, 

She  hires  attendants,  a  chair,  a  pillow,  female  friends, 

A  nurse,  and  a  yellow-haired  girl  to  whom  she  may  give  her 
commands. 

Yet  she,  whatever  remains  of  her  paternal  money, 

And  her  last  place,  gives  to  smooth  wrestlers. 

Many  are  in  narrow  circumstances :  but  none  has  the  shame 
Of  poverty,  nor  measures  herself  at  that  measure 
Which  this  has  given,  and  laid  down.  Yet  what  may  be  useful 
Sometimes  men  foresee;  and  cold  and  hunger,  at  length 
Some  have  fear’d,  being  taught  it  by  the  ant.  360 

A  prodigal  woman  does  not  perceive  a  perishing  income : 

But,  as  if  money  reviving  would  increase  in  the  exhausted 
chest, 

And  would  always  be  taken  from  a  full  heap, 

She  never  considers  how  much  her  pleasures  cost  her. 

There  are  some  weak  eunuchs,  and  their  soft  kisses 
Will  always  delight,  and  the  despair  of  a  beard, 

Also  that  there  is  no  need  of  an  abortive.  But  that 
Pleasure  is  the  chief,  that  adults,  now  in  warm  youth, 

Are  deliver’d  to  the  surgeons,  now  bearing  signs  of  puberty. 
Heliodorus,  the  surgeon,  performs  the  operation  370 


Sat.  vi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


49 


When  all  is  full  grown,  all  but  the  beard, 

Which  is  the  barber’s  loss  only. 

Afar  off  conspicuous,  and  observable  by  all,  he  enters 
The  baths,  nor  does  this  eunuch,  mado  so  by  his  mistress, 
Doubtfully  vie  with  the  keeper  of  the  vines  and  gardens : 

Let  him  sleep  with  his  mistress:  but  do  you,  Posthumus, 

Take  care  how  you  put  your  boy  Bromius  in  his  power. 

If  she  delights  in  singing,  no  public  performer 
Can  keep  himself  safe.  The  musical  instruments  are  always 
In  her  hands :  thick,  on  the  whole  lute,  sparkle  380 

Sardonyxes :  the  chords  are  run  over  in  order  with  the  trembling 
quill, 

With  which  the  tender  Hedymeles  perform’d :  this  she  keeps, 
With  this  she  solaces  herself,  and  indulges  kisses  to  the  grateful 
quill. 

A  certain  lady,  of  the  number  of  the  Lamise,  and  of  high  name, 
With  meal  and  wine  ask’d  Janus  and  Vesta, 

Whether  Pollio  ought  for  the  Capitolinian  oak 
To  hope,  and  promise  it  to  his  instrument.  What  could  she  do 
more 

If  her  husband  were  sick  ?  what,  the  physicians  being  sad,  to¬ 
wards 

Her  little  son  ?  she  stood  before  the  altar,  nor  thought  it  shame¬ 
ful  389 

To  veil  her  head  for  a  harp :  and  she  uttered  words  dictated, 
(As  the  custom  is,)  and  grew  pale  when  the  lamb  was  opened. 

“  Tell  me  now,  I  pray,  tell  me,  O  thou  most  ancient  of  gods, 

“  Father  J  anus,  do  you  answer  these  ?  the  leisure  of  heaven  is 
“  great ; 

“There  is  not,  (as  I  see,)  there  is  not  any  thing  that  is  done 
“  among  you. 

“This  (lady)  consults  you  about  comedians:  another  would 
“  recommend 

“  A  tragedian :  the  soothsayer  will  have  swelled  legs.” 

But  rather  let  her  sing,  than  audacious  she  should  fly  over  the 
whole 

Town,  and  then  she  should  endure  assemblies  of  men ; 

And  with  captains  in  military  attire,  in  the  presence  of  her 
husband, 

Converse,  with  an  unembarrassed  countenance,  and  with  bare 
breasts.  400 

This  same  knows  what  may  be  doing  all  the  world  over  : 
What  the  Seres  and  Thracians  may  be  doing  :  the  secret  of  a 
stepmother 

And  her  boy :  who  may  love :  what  adulterer  may  be  deceived; 


50 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi. 


She  will  tell  who  made  a  widow  pregnant,  and  in  what 
Month :  with  what  language  every  woman  intrigues,  and  in 
how  many  ways. 

The  comet  threatening  the  Armenian  and  Parthian  kings 
She  first  sees :  report,  and  recent  rumours, 

She  catches  up  at  the  doors;  some  she  makes:  that  the  Nip- 
phi  tes  had  gone 

Over  the  people,  and  that  there  all  the  fields  were  occupied 
By  a  great  deluge  :  that  cities  totter,  and  lands  sink,  410 

She  tells  in  every  public  street,  to  whomsoever  she  meets. 

Nor  yet  is  that  fault  more  intolerable,  than  that 
To  seize,  and  slash  with  whips  her  humble  neighbours, 
Entreated  she  is  wont:  for  if  by  barkings  her  sound 
Sleep  is  broken;  “Clubs,”  says  she,  “hither  quickly 
“Bring” — and  with  them  commands  the  master  first  to  be 
beaten, 

Then  the  dog.  Terrible  to  be  met,  and  most  frightful  in  coun¬ 
tenance, 

She  goes  by  night  to  the  baths :  her  conchs  and  baggage  she 
commands 

To  be  moved  by  night :  she  rejoices  to  sweat  with  great  tumult , 
When  her  arms  have  fallen,  tired  with  the  heavy  mass,  420 
And  the  sly  anointer  has  played  her  an  unlucky  trick, 

By  taking  undue  liberties  with  her  person, 

(Her  miserable  guests  in  the  mean  time  are  urged  with  sleep 
and  hunger,) 

At  last  she  comes  somewhat  ruddy,  thirsting  after 
A  whole  flagon,  which,  in  a  full  pitcher,  is  presented,  425 

Placed  at  her  feet ;  of  which  another  sextary 
Is  drunk  up  before  meat,  to  provoke  an  eager  appetite, 

Till  it  returns,  and  strikes  the  ground  with  her  washed  inside. 
Rivers  hasten  on  the  pavement,  or  of  Falernan  the  wide 
Bason  smells :  for  thus,  as  if  into  a  deep  cask  a  long  430 

Serpent  had  fallen,  she  drinks  and  vomits.  Therefore  her  hus¬ 
band 

Turns  sick,  and  restrains  his  choler  with  his  eyes  covered. 

Yet  she  is  more  irksome,  who,  when  she  begins  to  sit  at  table, 
Praises  Virgil,  and  forgives  Elisa  about  to  die : 

She  matches  the  poets,  and  compares  them;  then  Virgil,  435 
And,  on  the  other  part,  Homer,  she  suspends  in  a  scale. 

The  grammarians  yield,  the  rhetoricians  are  overcome, 

All  the  crowd  is  silent ;  neither  lawyer,  nor  crier,  can  speak, 
Nor  any  other  woman :  there  falls  so  great  a  force  of  words  : 
You  would  say,  that  so  many  basons,  so  many  bells  were 
struck  440 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


51 


Sat.  vi.] 

Together.  Now  let  nobody  weary  trumpets,  or  brass  kettles, 
She  alone  could  succour  the  labouring  moon. 

She,  a  wise  woman,  imposes  the  end  to  things  honest. 

Now  she  who  desires  to  seem  too  learned  and  eloquent, 

Ought  to  bind  her  coats  up  to  the  middle  of  her  leg,  445 

And  slay  an  hog  for  Sylvanus,  and  wash  for  a  farthing. 

Let  not  the  matron,  that  joined  to  you  lies  by  you,  have 
A  method  of  haranguing,  nor  let  her  twist,  with  turned  discourse, 
The  short  enthymeme,  nor  let  her  know  all  histories : 

But  some  things  from  books,  and  not  understand  them.  I  hate 
Her  who  repeats,  and  turns  over,  the  art  of  Palsemon,  451 
The  law  and  manner  of  speaking  being  always  preserved, 

And,  an  antiquarian,  holds  forth  to  me  unknown  verses, 

And  corrects  the  words  of  her  clownish  friend 
Not  to  be  noticed  by  men.  Let  it  be  allowable  for  her  husband 
to  have  made  a  solecism.  •  455 

There  is  nothing  a  woman  does  not  allow  herself  in ;  she 
thinks  nothing  base, 

When  she  has  placed  green  gems  round  her  neck,  and  when 
She  has  committed  large  pearls  to  her  extended  ears : 

Nothing  is  more  intolerable  than  a  rich  woman. 

Meanwhile,  filthy  to  behold,  and  to  be  laughed  at,  her  face  460 
Swells  with  much  paste,  or  breathes  fat  Poppasan, 

And  hence  the  lips  of  her  miserable  husband  are  glued  together. 
To  an  adulterer  she  will  come  with  a  wash’d  skin :  when  is  she 
Willing  to  seem  handsome  at  home  ?  perfumes  are  prepared  for 
her  . 

Gallants:  for  these  is  bought  whatever  the  slender  Indians  send 
hither.  465 

At  length  she  opens  her  countenance,  and  lays  by  her  first  cov¬ 
erings  : 

She  begins  to  be  known,  and  is  cherish’d  with  that  milk, 

On  account  of  which  she  leads  forth  with  her  she-asses  her  at¬ 
tendants, 

[f  an  exile  she  be  sent  to  the  Hyperborean  axis. 

But  that  which  is  cover’d  over,  and  cherish’d  with  so  many 
changed  470 

Medicaments,  and  receives  cakes  of  baked  and  wet  flour, 

Shall  it  be  called  a  face,  or  an  ulcer  ? 

It  is  worth  while,  to  know  exactly,  for  a  whole 
Day,  what  they  do,  and  how  they  employ  themselves.  If  at 
night 

The  husband  hath  lain  turned  away,  the  housekeeper  is  undone, 
the  tire-women  475 

Strip,  the  Liburnan  is  said  to  have  come  late, 


52 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi. 


And  to  be  punish’d  for  another’s  sleep 

Is  compell’d :  one  breaks  ferules,  another  reddens  with  the  whip, 
Another  with  the  thong :  there  are  some  who  pay  tormentors 
by  the  year. 

He  beats,  and  she,  by  the  bye,  daubs  her  face ;  listens  to  her 
friends,  480 

Or  contemplates  the  broad  gold  of  an  embroider’d  garment : 
And  as  he  beats,  she  reads  over  the  transactions  of  a  long  jour¬ 
nal  : 

And  still  he  beats,  till  the  beaters  being  tir’d — “Go,” 

(She  horridly  thunders  out,)  “now  the  examination  is  finish’d.” 
The  government  of  the  house  is  not  milder  than  a  Sicilian 
court : 

For  if  she  has  made  an  assignation,  and  wishes  more  becom¬ 
ingly  than  usual 

To  be  dressed,  and  is  in  a  hurry,  and  now  waited  for  in  the 
gardens, 

Or  rather  at  the  temple  of  the  bawd  Isis, 

Unhappy  Psecas  arranges  her  hair,  herself  with  torn  locks, 
Naked  to  the  shoulders,  and  with  naked  breasts. —  490 

“Why  is  this  curl  higher?” — The  bull’s  hide  immediately  pun¬ 
ishes 

The  crime  and  fault  of  a  curled  lock. 

What  has  Psecas  committed  ?  what  is  here  the  fault  of  the  girl, 
If  your  nose  has  displeased  you  ?  Another  extends 
The  left  side,  and  combs  the  locks,  aud  rolls  them  into  a  circle. 
A  matron  is  in  council,  and  who,  put  to  the  wool,  496 

Ceases  from  the  discharged  crisping-pin :  her  opinion 
Shall  be  first;  after  her,  those  who  are  inferior  in  age  and  art 
Shall  judge :  as  if  the  hazard  of  her  reputation,  or  of  her  life, 
Were  in  question;  of  so  great  importance  is  the  concern  of  get¬ 
ting  beauty.  500 

She  presses  with  so  many  rows,  and  still  builds  with  so  many 
joinings, 

Her  high  head,  that  you  will  see  Andromache  in  front : 

Behind  she  is  less :  you’d  believe  her  another.  Excuse  her  if 
She  be  allotted  a  short  space  of  small  waist,  and  seem  shorter 
Than  a  Pygmean  virgin,  help’d  by  no  high-soled  shoes,  iOS 
And  arises  to  kisses  light  with  an  erect  foot. 

In  the  meanwhile  no  concern  for  her  husband,  no  mention 
made 

Of  damages :  she  lives  as  the  neighbor  of  her  husband : 

In  this  only  nearer,  that  she  hates  the  friends  of  her  husband, 
And  his  servants ;  she  is  grievous  to  his  affairs. 

- Behold  of  mad  510 


tt 


i 


I 


% 

Sat.  vi.]  JUVENAL’S  SATIRES.  55 

Bellona,  and  of  the  mother  of  the  gods,  a  chorus  enters,  and  a 
great 

Half-man,  a  reverend  face  with  little  manhood, 

Who  has  cut  his  tender  genitals  with  a  broken  shell : 

To  whom,  now  long,  an  hoars*  troop — to  whom  the  plebeian 
tabours 

Yield,  and  his  cheek  is  clothed  with  a  Phrygian  turbant :  51i 

Loudly  he  sounds  forth — and  commands  the  coming  of  Septem¬ 
ber,  and  of  the 

South-wind,  to  be  dreaded,  unless  she  purify  herself  with  an 
hundred  eggs, 

And  give  to  him  old  murrey-colour’d  garments : 

That  whatever  of  sudden  and  great  danger  impends, 

May  go  into  the  clothes,  and  may  expiate  the  whole  year  at 
once.  520 

She  will  descend  (the  ice  being  broken)  into  the  wint’ry  river, 

Three  times  be  dipp’d  in  the  early  Tiber,  and  in  the  very 
Whirlpools  wash  her  fearful  head:  then,  the  whole 
Field  of  the  proud  king,  naked  and  trembling,  with  bloody 
Knees  she  will  crawl  over. — If  the  white  lo  should  command, 

She  will  go  to  the  end  of  Egypt,  and  will  bring  waters  fetch’d 
From  warm  Meroe,  that  she  may  sprinkle  them  in  the  temple 
Of  Isis,  which  rises  next  to  the  old  sheepfold. 

For  she  thinks  herself  admonish’d  by  the  voice  of  the  mistres* 
herself. 

Lo!  the  souL  and  mind,  with  which  the  gods  can  speak  by 
night !  530 

Therefore  he  gains  the  chief  and  highest  honour, 

Who  (surrounded  with  a  linen-bearing  flock,  and  a  bald  tribe 
Of  lamenting  people)  runs  the  derider  of  Anubis. 

He  seeks  pardon,  as  often  as  the  wife  does  not  abstain 
From  her  husband,  on  sacred  and  observable  days,  • 535 

And  a  great  punishment  is  due  for  a  violated  coverlet : 

And  the  silver  serpfent  seems  to  have  moved  its  head. 

His  tears  and  meditated  murmurs  prevail, 

That  Osiris  will  not  refuse  pardon,  by  a  great  goose, 

That  is  to  say,  and  a  thin  cake,  corrupted.  540 

When  he  has  given  place,  her  basket  and  hay  being  left, 

A  trembling  Jewess  begs  into  the  secret  ear, 

Interpretess  of  the  laws  of  Solyma,  high  priestess 
Of  a  tree,  and  a  faithful  messenger  of  high  heaven. 

And  she  fills  her  hand,  but  very  sparingly :  for  a  small  piece  of 
money,  145 

The  Jews  sell  whatever  dreams  you  may  choose. 

But  an  Armenian  or  Commagenian  soothsayer  promises 


54 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi. 


A  tender  love,  or  a  large  will  of  a  childless  rich  man, 

Having  handled  the  lungs  of  a  warm  dove : 

He  searches  the  breasts  of  chickens,  and  the  bowels  of  a 
whelp,  550 

And  sometimes  of  a  child :  he  will  do  what  he  himself  would 
betray. 

But  her  confidence  in  Chaldeans  will  be  greater:  whatever 
An  astrologer  shall  say,  they  think  brought  from  the  fount 
Of  Hammon :  because  the  Delphic  oracles  cease, 

And  a  darkness  of  futurity  condemns  the  human  race.  555 
Yet  the  most  eminent  of  these  is  he  who  has  been  oftenest  an 
exile, 

By  whose  friendship,  and  by  whose  hired  tablet, 

A  great  citizen  died,  and  one  fear’d  by  Otho : 

Thence  confidence  [is  given]  to  his  art,  if  with  iron  his  right 
hand  has  clatter’d, 

And  his  left:  if  he  has  remained  in  the  long  confinement  of 
camps.  560 

No  astrologer  uncondemn’d  will  have  a  genius; 

But  he  who  has  almost  perished :  to  whom  to  be  sent  to  the 
Cyclades 

It  has  scarcely  happened,  and  at  length  to  have  been  freed  from 
little  Seriphus. 

.  Your  Tanaquil  consults  him  about  the  lingering  death  of  her 
jaundic’d 

Mother ;  but,  before  this,  concerning  you :  when  her  sister  she 
may  555 

Bury,  and  her  uncles;  whether  the  adulterer  will  live 
After  her:  for  what  greater  thing  can  the  gods  bestow? — 
These  things,  however,  she  is  ignorant  of— what  the  baleful 
star 

Of  Saturn  may  threaten,  with  what  star  propitious  Venus  may 
shew  herself, 

What  month  for  loss,  what  times  are  given  for  gain. 

Remember  also  to  avoid  the  meeting  of  her 
In  whose  hands,  like  fat  amber,  you  see  worn 
Diaries:  who  consults  no  one,  and  now  is 
Consulted :  who,  her  husband  going  to  the  camp,  and  his  coun¬ 
try, 

Will  not  go  with  him,  called  back  by  the  numbers  of  Thra- 
syllus.  575 

When  she  pleases  to  be  carried  to  the  first  stone,  the  hour 
Is  taken  from  her  book :  if  the  rubb’d  angle  of  her  eye 
Itches,  she  asks  for  eye-salve,  her  nativity  being  inspected: 

Tho’  she  lie  sick,  no  hour  seems  more  apt 


Sat.  vi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


55 


For  taking  food,  than  that  which  Petosiris  has  allotted. 

If  she  he  in  a  middle  station,  she  will  survey  each  space 
Of  the  goals,  and  will  draw  lots ;  and  her  forehead  and  hand 
She  will  shew  to  a  prophet,  who  asks  a  frequent  stroking. 

To  the  rich  a  Phrygian  augur  will  give  answers,  and  an  hired 
Indian,  skilled  in  the  stars  and  sphere,  will  give  them ;  585 

And  some  elder  who  hides  the  public  lightning. 

The  plebeian  fate  is  placed  in  the  Circus,  and  in  the  mount: 
She  who  shews  no  long  gold  on  her  neck, 

Consults  before  the  Phalse,  and  the  pillars  of  the  dolphins, 
Whether  she  shall  marry  the  blanket-seller,  the  victualler  being 
left 

Yet  these  undergo  the  peril  of  child-birth,  and  bear  all 
The  fatigues  of  a  nurse,  their  fortune  urging  them : 

But  hardly  any  lying-in  woman  lies  in  a  gilded  bed; 

So  much  do  the  arts,  so  much  the  medicines  of  such  a  one  pre¬ 
vail, 

Who  causes  barrenness,  and  conduces  to  kill  men  in  the  535 
Womb.  Rejoice,  thou  wretch,  and  do  thou  thyself  reach  forth 
To  be  drunk  whatever  it  may  be  :  for  if  she  is  willing  to  distend, 
And  disturb  her  womb  with  leaping  children,  you  may  be, 
Perhaps,  the  father  of  a  blackmoor :  soon  a  discolour’d  heir 
May  fill  your  will,  never  to  be  seen  by  you  in  a  morning. 

I  pass  by  supposititious  children,  and  the  joys,  and  vows,  often 
Deceived  at  the  dirty  lakes,  and  the  Salian  priests  fetch’d 
From  thence,  who  are  to  bear  the  names  of  the  Scauri 
In  a  false  body.  Waggish  Fortune  stands  by  night 
Smiling  on  the  naked  infants ;  all  these  she  cherishes,  605 

And  wraps  in  her  bosom,  then  conveys  them  to  high  houses. 
And  prepares  a  secret  farce  for  herself:  these  she  loves, 

With  these  she  charges  herself,  and,  laughing,  produces  her  own 
foster-children. 

One  brings  magical  incantations,  another  sells  Thessalian 
Philtres,  by  which  they  can  vex  the  mind  of  her  husband, 

And  clap  his  posteriors  with  a  slipper :  that  you  are  foolish  is 
from  thence  ; 

Thence  darkness  of  mind,  and  great  forgetfulness  of  things, 
Which  you  did  but  just  now.  Yet  this  is  tolerable,  if  you  don’t 
Begin  to  rave  too,  as  that  uncle  of  Nero, 

For  whom  Caesonia  infused  the  whole  forehead  of  a  trembling 
colt  6lt 

What  woman  will  not  do  what  the  wife  of  a  prince' did? 

All  things  were  burning,  and  fell  to  pieces,  the  bond 

Being  broken,  not  otherwise  than  if  Juno  had  made  her  husband 

Mad.  Less  hurtful  therefore  was  the  mushroom  of  Agrippa: 


66 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vi. 


For  that  oppressed  the  bowels  of  one  old  man, 

And  commanded  his  trembling  head  to  descend  into 
Heaven,  and  his  lips  flowing  with  long  slaver. 

This  portion  calls  for  the  sword,  and  lire,  this  torments, 

This  tears  to  pieces  senators,  mixed  with  the  blood  of  knights. 
Of  so  great  consequence  is  the  offspring  of  a  mare  :  of  so  much 
importance  is  one  witch.  624 

They  hate  the  offspring  of  the  husband’s  mistress :  nobody 
opposes. 

Nobody  forbids  it :  now-a-days  it  is  right  to  kill  a  son-in-law. 
Ye,  O  orphans,  who  have  a  large  estate,  I  admonish; 

Take  care  of  your  lives,  and  trust  no  table: 

The  livid  fat  meats  are  warm  with  maternal  poison. 

Let  some  one  bite  before  you  whatever  she  who  bore  you 
Shall  offer  you,  let  the  timid  tutor  taste  first  the  cups. 

Surely  we  feign  these  things,  satire  assuming  the  lofty  buskin : 
Having  exceeded  the  bound  and  law  of  all  that  went  before, 

We  rant  forth  lofty  verse  in  Sophoclean  strains,  634 

Unknown  to  the  Rutulian  mountains,  and  to  the  Latin  climate. 
I  would  we  were  false  !  but  Pontia  cries  out — “I  have  done  it! 
“  I  confess  I  have  prepared  poisons  for  my  boys ; — 

“  Which  discover’d  are  evident :  but  the  deed  I  myself  perpe- 
“  trated.” — 

Didst  thou,  O  most  savage  viper,  destroy  two  at  one  meal  ? 
“Didst  thou  two?” — “Yes,  seven,  if  haply  seven  there  had 
“  been.” 

Let  us  believe  whatever  is  said  in  tragedies  of  cruel 
Colchis,  and  Progne.  I  endeavour  nothing  against  it :  and  those 
women 

Dared  in  their  day  (to  commit)  great  enormities,  but 
Not  for  the  sake  of  money.  But  little  wonder  is  due-  645 

To  the  greatest  enormities,  as  often  as  anger  makes  this  sex 
Mischievous,  and,  rage  inflaming  the  liver,  they  are 
Carried  headlong :  as  stones  broken  off  from  hills,  from  which 
the  mountain 

Is  withdraw]*,  and  the  side  recedes  from  the  hanging  cliff. 

I  -could  not  bear  her,  who  deliberates,  and  commits  a  great 
crime  6i( 

While  in  her  sound  mind.  They  behold  Alceste  undergoing 
the  fate 

Of  her  husband,  and,  if  a  like  exchange  were  allowed, 

They  would  desire  to  preserve  the  life  of  a  lap-dog  by  the  death 
of  an  husband. 

Many  Belides  will  meet  you,  and  Eriphyloe  : 

No  street  but  will  have  every  morning  a  Clytemnestra.  *fS 


Sat.  vi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


5?' 


This  is  the  only  difference,  that  Tyndaris  held  a  stupid 
And  foolish  axe,  with  her  right  hand  and  her  left : 

But  now  the  thing  is  done  with  the  small  lungs  of  a  toad; 

But  yet  with  a  sword  too,  if  cautious  Atrides  has  beforehand 
tasted 

The  Pontic  medicines  of  the  thrice-conquer’d  king. 


5 


I 


t 


SATIRE  YU. 


ARGUMENT. 

This  Satire  is  addressed  to  Telesinus,  a  poet.  Juvenal  laments  the  negleeS 
of  encouraging  learning.  That  Caesar  only  is  the  patron  of  the  fine  arts. 
As  for  the  rest  of  the  great  and  noble  Romans,  they  gave  no  heed  to  the 
protection  of  poets,  historians,  lawyers,  rhetoricians,  grammarians,  &c 
These  last  were  not  only  ill  paid,  but  even  forced  to  go  to  law  for  the  poor 
pittance  which  they  had  earned,  by  the  fatigue  and  labour  of  teaching 
school.  , 

Both  the  hope,  and  reason  of  studies,  is  in  Caesar  only : 

For  he  only,  at  this  time,  hath  regarded  the  mournful  Muses, 
When  now  our  famous  and  noted  poets  would  try 
To  hire  a  small  bath  at  Gabii,  or  ovens  at  Rome : 

Nor  would  others  think  it  mean,  nor  base,  5 

To  become  criers;  when,  the  valleys  of  Aganippe 

Being  deserted,  hungry  Clio  would  migrate  to  court-yards. 

For  if  not  a  farthing  is  shewn  to  you  in  the  Pierian  shade, 

You  may  love  the  name,  and  livelihood  of  Machmra; 

And  rather  sell  what  the  intrusted  auction  sells  10 

To  the  standers  by,  a  pot,  tripods,  book-cases,  chests, 

The  Alcithoe  of  Paccius,  the  Thebes  and  Tereus  of  Faustus. 
This  is  better  than  if  you  said  before  a  judge,  “I  have  seen/’ 
What  you  have  not  seen :  tho’  the  Asiatic  knights 
And  the  Cappadocians  may  do  this,  and  the  knights  of  Bithy- 
nia,  1 5 

Whom  the  other  Gaul  brings  over  barefoot. 

But  nobody  to  undergo  a  toil  unworthy  his  studies 
Hereafter  shall  be  compelled,  whoe’er  he  be  that  joins,  to  tuneful 
Measures,  melodious  eloquence,  and  hath  bitten  the  laurel. 

Mind  this,  young  men,  the  indulgence  of  the  emperor  20 

Has  its  eye  upon,  and  encourages  you,  and  seeks  matter  for 
itself. 

If  you  think  protectors  of  your  affairs  are  to  be  expected 
From  elsewhere,  and  therefore  the  parchment  of  your  saffron- 
colour’d  tablet 

Is  filled,  get  some  wood  quickly,  and  what 


Sat.  vii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


You  compose,  Telesinus,  give  to  the  husband  of  Venus :  25 

Or  shut  up,  and  bore  thro’  with  the  moth  your  books  laid  by. 
Wretch,  break  your  pens,  and  blot  out  your  watched  battles, 
Who  makest  sublime  verses  in  a  small  cell, 

That  you  may  become  worthy  of  ivy,  and  a  lean  image. 

There  is  no  farther  hope  :  a  rich  miser  hath  now  learnt  30 
As  much  to  admire,  as  much  to  praise  witty  men, 

As  boys  the  bird  of  Juno.  But  your  age,  patient  of  the  sea, 
And  of  the  helmet,  and  of  the  spade,  passes  away. 

Then  weariness  comes  upon  the  spirits ;  then,  eloquent 
And  naked  old  age  hates  both  itself  and  its  Terpsichore.  35 
Hear  now  his  arts,  lest  he  whom  you  court  should  give  you 
Any  thing:  both  the  temple  of  the  Muses,  and  of  Apollo,  being 
forsaken, 

Himself  makes  verses,  and  yields  to  Homer  alone, 

Because  a  thousand  years  [before  him.]  But  if,  with  the  desire 
of  fame 

Inflamed,  you  repeat  your  verses,  Maculonus  lends  a  house :  40 
And  the  house  strongly  barr’d  is  commanded  to  serve  you, 

In  which  the  door  imitates  anxious  gates. 

He  knows  how  to  place  his  freedmen,  sitting  in  the  extreme 
part 

Of  the  rows,  and  to  dispose  the  loud  voices  of  his  attendants. 
None  of  these  great  men  will  give  as  much  as  the  benches  may 
cost,  4S 

And  the  stairs  which  hang  from  the  hired  beam, 

And  the  orchestra,  which  is  set  with  chairs,  which  are  to  be 
carried  back. 

Yet  we  still  go  on,  and  draw  furrows  in  the  light 
Dust,  and  turn  up  the  shore  with  a  barren  plough. 

For  if  you  would  leave  off,  custom  of  ambitious  evil  i0 

Holds  you  in  a  snare;  many  an  incurable  ill  habit  of  writing 
Possesses,  and  grows  inveterate  in  the  distemper’d  heart. 

But  the  excellent  poet,  who  has  no  common  vein, 

Who  is  wont  to  produce  nothing  trifling,  nor  who 
Composer  trivial  verse  in  a  common  style,  n 

Him  (such  a  one  I  can’t  shew,  and  only  conceive) 

A  mind  free  from  anxiety  makes  :mf  every  thing  displeasing 
Impatient,  desirous  of  woods,  and  disposed  for  drinking  the 
Fountains  of  the  Muses:  for  neither  to  sing  in  the 
Pierian  cave,  or  to  handle  the  thyrsus,  is  poverty  60 

Sober,  and  void  of  money,  (which  night  and  day  the  body 
wants,) 

Able.  Horace  is  satisfied  when  he  says — Euhoe! 

What  place  is  there  for  genius,  unless  when  with  verse  alone 


60  JUVENAL’S  SATIRES.  [Sat.  vii. 

Our  minds  trouble  themselves,  and  by  the  lords  of  Cirrha  and 
Nisa 

Are  carried  on,  not  admitting  two  cares  at  once  ? 

It  is  the  work  of  a  great  mind,  not  of  one  that  is  amazed  about 
Getting  a  blanket,  to  behold  chariots,  and  horses,  and  the  faces 
Of  the  gods,  and  what  an  Erinnys  confounded  the  Rutulian : 
For  if  a  boy,  and  a  tolerable  lodging  had  been  wanting  to  Virgil, 
All  the  snakes  would  have  fallen  from  her  hairs : 

The  silent  trumpet  have  groan’d  nothing  disastrous.  Do  we 
require 

That  Rubrenus  Lappa  should  not  be  less  than  the  ancient 
buskin, 

Whose  platters,  and  cloke,  Atreus  had  laid  in  pawn  ? 

Unhappy  Numitor  has  not  what  he  can  send  to  a  friend ; 

He  has  what  he  can  give  to  Quintilla :  nor  was  there  wanting 
to  him  75 

Wherewithal  he  might  buy  a  lion,  to  be  fed  with  much  flesh, 
Already  tamed.  The  beast  stands  him  in  less  expense, 
Doubtless,  and  the  intestines  of  a  poet  hold  more. 

Lucan,  content  with  fame,  may  lie  in  gardens  adorn’d  with 
Marble :  but  to  Serranus,  and  to  thin  Seleius, 

What  will  ever  so  much  fame  be,  if  it  be  only  fame  ? 

They  run  to  the  pleasing  voice,  and  poem  of  the  favourite 
Thebais,  when  Statius  has  made  the  city  glad, 

And  has  promised  a  day:  with  so  great  sweetness  does  he  affect 
The  captivated  minds,  and  is  heard  with  so  much  eager  desire 
Of  the  vulgar :  but  when  he  has  broken  the  benches  with  his 
verse,  86 

He  hungers,  unless  he  should  sell  his  untouched  Agave  to  Paris. 
He  also  bestows  military  honour  on  many ; 

He  binds  round  the  fingers  of  poets  with  Semestrian  gold. 
What  nobles  do  not  give,  an  actor  will.  Dost  thou  trouble 
thine  90 

Head  about  the  Camerini  and  Bareae,  and  the  great  courts  of 
nobles  ? 

Pelopea  makes  prefects,  Philomela  tribunes. 

Yet  envy  not  the  poet  whom  the  stage  maintains. 

Who  is  your  Maecenas?  who  now  will  be  either  a  Proculeis. 

Or  a  Fabius?  who  a  second  Cotta?  who  another  Lentulus?  9* 
Then  reward  was  equal  to  genius :  then  ’twas  useful  to  many 
To  be  pale,  and  to  know  nothing  of  wine  for  a  whole  December. 

Moreover  your  labour,  ye  writers  of  histories,  is  more 
Abundant:  this  demands  more  time,  and  more  oil; 

For  the  thousandth  page,  forgetful  of  measure,  arises 
To  ye  all,  and  increases  ruinous  with  much  paper: 


Sat.  vii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


61 


Thus  the  great  number  of  things  ordains,  and  the  law  of  (such) 
works. 

What  harvest  is  from  thence  ?  what  fruit  of  the  far-extended 
ground  ? 

Who  will  give  an  historian  as  much  as  he  would  give  to  a  col¬ 
lector  of  the  registers  ?  1€4 

But  they  are  an  idle  race,  which  rejoices  in  a  couch  or  a  shade. 
Tell  me  then,  what  civil  offices  afford  to  the  lawyers, 

And  the  libels  their  attendants  in  a  great  bundle  ? 

They  make  a  great  noise,  but  especially  then,  when  the  creditor 
Hears,  or  if  one,  more  keen  than  he,  has  touched  his  side, 

Who  comes  with  a  great  book  to  a  doubtful  debt:  110 

Then  his  hollow  bellows  breathe  out  prodigious  lies, 

And  his  bosom  is  spit  upon.  *But  if  you  would  discover  the 
Profit,  put  the  patrimony  of  an  hundred  lawyers  on  one  side, 
And  on  the  other  that  of  the  red-clad  Lacerta  only. 

The  chiefs  are  set  down  together,  thou  risest  a  pale  Ajax,  115 
In  order  to  plead  about  doubtful  freedom,  Bubulcus 
Being  judge:  break,  wretch,  your  stretched  liver,  that,  to  you 
fatigued, 

Green  palms  may  be  fixed  up,  the  glory  of  your  stairs. 

What  is  the  reward  of  your  voice  ?  a  dry  bit  of  salt  bacon,  and 
a  vessel 

Of  sprats,  or  old  bulbous  roots  which  come  monthly  from  Af¬ 
rica,  129 

Or  wine  brought  down  the  Tiber :  five  flagons, 

If  you  have  pleaded  four  times — If  one  piece  of  gold  befals, 
From  thence  shares  fall,  according  to  the  agreement  of  prag¬ 
matics. 

To  iEmilius  will  be  given  as  much  as  he  will  ask ;  and  we  have 
Pleaded  better :  for  a  brazen  chariot  stands,  and  four  stately  125 
Horses  in  his  vestibules,  and  himself  on  a  fierce 
War-horse  sitting,  brandishes  a  bent  spear 
Aloft,  and  meditates  battle  with  a  blinking  statue. 

Thus  Pedo  breaks — Matho  fails :  this  is  the  end 
Of  Tongillus,  who  to  bathe  with  large  rhinoceros  130 

Is  wont,  and  vexes  the  baths  with  a  dirty  crowd ; 

And  thro’  the  forum  presses  the  young  Medes  with  a  long  pole, 
Going  to  buy  boys,  silver,  vessels  of  myrrh  and  villas ; 

For  his  foreign  purple  with  Tyrian  thread  promises  for  him. 
And  yet  this  is  useful  to  them ;  purple  sells  1,s 

The  lawyer,  violet-colour’d  robes  sell  him :  it  suits  them 
To  live  with  the  bustle  and  appearance  of  a  greater  income. 
But  prodigal  Rome  observes  no  bounds  to  expense. 

Tho’  the  ancients  should  return,  nobody  would  give  Cicero 


62 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  vii. 


Now-a-days  two  hundred  sesterces,  unless  a  great  ring  shone. 
He  that  litigates  regards  this  first,  whether  you  have  eight  141 
Servants,  ten  attendants,  whether  a  chair  is  after  you, 
Gownsmen  before  your  steps.  Therefore  Paulus  pleaded  with 
an  hired 

Sardonyx,  and  therefore  pleaded  at  a  higher  fee  than 
Cossus  or  than  Basilus.  Eloquence  is  rare  in  a  mean  clothing. 
When  can  Basilus  produce  a  weeping  mother  ?  546 

Who  will  bear  Basilus  (tho’)  speaking  well  ?  let  Gallia 
Receive  you,  or  rather,  that  nurse  of  lawyers, 

Africa,  if  it  has  pleased  you  to  set  a  reward  upon  your  tongue. 
Do  you  teach  to  declaim?  O  the  iron  heart  of  Vectius?  150 
When  a  numerous  class  hath  destroy’d  cruel  tyrants : 

For  whatever  sitting,  it  has  just  read,  these  same  things  standing, 
It  will  utter,  and  rehearse  the  same,  over  and  over,  in  the  same 
verses. 

The  cabbage  repeated  kills  the  miserable  masters. 

What  the  colour,  and  what  the  kind  of  cause,  and  where  1SS 
The  chief  question,  what  arrows  may  come  from  the  contrary 
party, 

All  would  know,  nobody  pay  the  reward. 

Do  you  call  for  your  reward  ? — what,  forsooth,  do  I  know  ? 
The  fault  of  the  Teacher 

You  may  be  sure  is  blamed,  because  in  the  left  part  of  the 
breast 

The  Arcadian  youth  hath  nothing  that  leaps,  whose  dire  Han¬ 
nibal,  166 

Every  sixth  day,  fills  my  miserable  head : 

Whatever  it  be  concerning  which  he  deliberates,  whether  he 
should  go  to  the  city 

From  Cannae,  or  after  showers  and  thunder  cautious, 

He  should  wheel  about  his  troops  wet  with  the  tempest. 

Bargain  for  as  much  as  you  please,  and  immediately  take  what 
fS*S5-  I  give,  165 

That  his  father  should  hear  him  as  often.  But  six  other 
Sophists,  and  more,  cry  together  with  one  mouth, 

And  agitate  real  causes,  the  ravisher  being  left : 

The  mixed  poisons  are  silent,  the  bad  and  ungrateful  husband, 
And  what  medicines  now  heal  old  blind  men.  170 

Therefore  he  will  discharge  himself,  if  my  counsels  will 
Move ;  and  he  will  enter  upon  a  different  walk  in  life, 

Who  has  descended  from  the  rhetorical  shadow  to  real  engage¬ 
ment, 

Lest  the  small  sum  should  perish,  from  which  cometh  a  vile 
Wheat-ticket :  for  this  is  a  most  splendid  reward.  Try  175 


Sat.  vii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


63 


185 


190 


For  how  much  Chrysogonus  teaches,  or  Pollio  the  children 
Of  the  quality,  dividing  the  art  of  Theodoras. 

Baths  are  at  six  hundred  sestertia,  and  a  portico  at  more,  in 
which 

The  lord  is  carried  when  it  rains :  can  he  wait  for 

Fair  weather,  or  dash  his  cattle  with  fresh  mud  ?  180 

Here  rather,  for  here  the  hoof  of  the  clean  mule  shines. 

In  another  part,  propp’d  with  tall  Numidian  pillars, 

A  supper-room  arises,  and  will  snatch  the  cool  sun. 

Whatever  the  house  cost,  one  will  come  who  composes  skilfully 
Dishes  of  meat,  and  one  who  seasons  soups. 

Amidst  these  expenses,  two  sestertiums,  as  a  great  deal, 

Will  suffice  for  Quintilian.  Nothing  will  cost  a  father 
Less  than  a  son.  Whence,  therefore,  hath 
Quintilian  so  many  forests? — The  examples  of  new  fates 
Pass  over :  the  fortunate  is  handsome,  and  witty, 

The  fortunate  is  wise,  and  noble,  and  generous, 

And  subjoins  the  moon  set  upon  his  black  shoe. 

The  fortunate  is  also  a  great  orator,  a  dart-thrower, 

And,  if  he  be  hoarse,  sings  well :  for  there  is  a  difference  what 
Stars  receive  you,  when  you  first  begin  195 

To  send  forth  crying,  and  are  yet  red  from  your  mother. 

If  Fortune  please,  you  will  from  a  rhetorician  become  a  consul : 
If  this  same  please,  you  will  from  a  consul  become  a  rhetorician. 
For  what  was  Ventidius  ?  what  Tullius  ?  was  it  other  than 
A  star,  and  the  wonderful  power  of  hidden  fate? 

The  fates  will  give  kingdoms  to  slaves,  triumphs  to  captives. 
Yet  that  fortunate  person  is  also  more  rare  than  a  white  crow, 
Many  have  repented  the  vain  and  barren  chair, 

As  the  exit  of  Thrasymachus  proves,  and  of  Secundus 
Carrinas,  and  him  whom  poor  you  saw,  O  Athens, 

Daring  to  bestow  nothing  but  cold  hemlock. 

Grant,  ye  gods,  to  the  shades  of  our  ancestors,  thin  earth,  and 
without  weight, 

And  breathing  crocusses,  and  perpetual  spring  upon  their  urn, 
Who  would  have  a  preceptor  to  be  in  the  place  of  a  sacred 
Parent.  Achilles,  now  grown  up,  fearing  the  rod,  218 

Sang  in  his  paternal  mountains ;  and  from  whom  then 
Would  not  the  tail  of  the  harper  his  master  have  drawn  forth 
laughter  ? 

But  Ruffus,  and  others,  each  of  their  own  young  men  strike ; 
Ruffus,  who  so  often  called  Cicero  an  Allobrogian. 

Who  brings  to  the  lap  af  Enceladus,  or  of  the  learned  Palae- 
mon,  214 

As  much  as  grammatical  labour  has  deserved  ?  and  yet  from 
this, 


200 


205 


JUVENAL'S  SATIRES. 


64 


[Sat.  tie. 


Whatever  it  be,  (but  it  is  less  than  the  money  of  the  rhetorician,) 
Acoenitus  himself,  the  keeper  of  the  scholar,  snips, 

And  he  who  manages,  breaks  off  some  for  himself.  Yield, 
Palsemon, 

And  suffer  something  to  decrease  from  thence,  not  otherwise 
than  220 

A  dealer  in  winter-rug,  and  white  blanket. 

Only  let  it  not  be  lost,  that  from  the  midnight  hour 

You  have  sat,  in  which  no  smith,  in  which  nobody  would  sit, 

Who  teaches  to  draw  out  wool  with  the  crooked  iron : 

Only  let  it  not  be  lost  to  have  smelt  as  many  lamps 
As  boys  were  standing,  when  all  discolour'd  was 
Horace,  and  soot  stuck  to  black  Virgil. 

Yet  pay  is  rare  which  may  not  want  the  cognizance 
Of  the  Tribune. — But  impose  ye  cruel  laws, 

That  the  rule  of  words  should  be  clear  to  the  preceptor :  23e 

That  he  should  read  histories,  should  know  all  authors 
As  well  as  his  own  nails  and  fingers ;  that,  by  chance,  being 
ask'd 

While  he  is  going  to  the  hot  baths,  or  the  baths  of  Phoebus,  he 
should  tell 

The  nurse  of  Anchises,  the  name  and  country  of  the  step¬ 
mother  244 

Of  Archemorus :  should  tell  how  many  years  Acestes  lived : 
How  many  urns  of  wine  the  Sicilian  presented  to  the  Phrygians, 
Require,  that  he  should  form  the  tender  manners  as  with  his 
thumb, 

As  if  one  makes  a  face  with  wax:  require,  that  he  should  be 
Even  a  father  of  his  flock,  lest  they  should  play  base  tricks, 
And  corrupt  each  other :  it  is  no  light  matter  to  watch  243 
The  conduct  of  so  many  boys,  and  their  wanton  looks. 

These  things,  says  he,  take  care  of — but  when  the  year  turn* 
itself, 

Accept  a  piece  of  gold,  which  the  people  require  for  a  conqueror. 


SATIRE  VIII. 


ARGUMENT. 

In  this  Satire  the  Poet  proves,  that  true  nobility  does  not  consist  in  statues 
and  pedigrees,  but  in  honourable  and  good  actions.  And,  in  opposition 
to  persons  nobly  born,  who  are  a  disgrace  to  their  family,  he  displays  the 
worth  of  many  who  were  meanly  born,  as  Cicero,  Marius,  Serv.  Tullius, 
and  the  Decii. 

What  do  pedigrees  ?  what  avails  it,  Ponticus,  to  be  valued 
By  a  long  descent,  and  to  shew  the  painted  countenances 
Of  ancestors,  and  iEmilii  standing  in  chariots, 

And  Curii  now  half,  and  less  by  a  shoulder 

Corvinus,  and  Galba  wanting  ears  and  nose  ?  5 

What  fruit  to  boast  of  Corvinus  in  the  capacious  table 

Of  kindred,  and  after  him  to  deduce,  by  many  a  branch, 

Smoky  masters  of  the  knights,  with  a  Dictator, 

If  before  the  Lepidi  you  live  ill  ?  wither-  (tend)  the  effigies 
Of  so  many  warriors,  if  the  nightly  die  be  played  with  10 
Before  the  Numantii  ?  if  you  begin  to  sleep  at  the  rising  of 
Lucifer,  at  which  those  generals  were  moving  their  standards 
and  camps  ? 

Why  should  Fabius,  born  in  a  Herculean  family,  rejoice 
In  the  Allobroges,  and  the  great  altar,  if  covetous,  if 
Vain,  and  never  so  much  softer  than  an  Euganean  lamb?  15 
If,  having  rubb’d  his  tender  loins  with  a  Catinensian  pumice 
He  shames  his  dirty  ancestors — and,  a  buyer  of  poison, 

He  saddens  the  miserable  family  with  an  image  to  be  broken  ? 
Tho’  the  old  waxen  figures  should  adorn  the  courts  on  all  sides, 
Virtue  is  the  only  and  single  nobility.  20 

Be  thou  in  morals  Paulus,  or  Cossus,  or  Drusus ; 

Put  these  before  the  effigies  of  your  ancestors : 

Let  then,  you  being  consul,  precede  the  fasces  themselves. 

You  owe  me  first  the  virtues  of  the  mind — do  you  deserve 
To  be  accounted  honest,  and  tenacious  of  justice,  in  word  and 
deed  ?  .  ‘  25 

I  acknowledge  the  nobleman. — Hail,  Getulian ! — or  thou, 
Silanus,  from  whatever  other  blood,  a  rare,  and 
Choice  citizen,  thou  befallest  thy  triumphing  country. 

We  may  exclaim,  what  the  people  call  out  to  Osiris 


66  JUVENAL’S  SATIRES.  [Sat.  viii. 

When  found. — But  who  would  call  him  noble,  who  is  30 

Unworthy  his  race,  and  for  an  illustrious  name  only 
Remarkable  ?  We  call  the  dwarf  of  some  one,  Atlas : 

An  Ethiopian,  a  swan :  a  little  and  deformed  wench, 

Europa:  to  slow  dogs,  and  with  an  old  mange 
Smooth,  and  licking  the  mouths  of  a  dry  lamp,  35 

The  name  of  lion,  leopard,  tiger  shall  belong;  and  if  there  bo 

yet 

Any  thing  on  earth  that  rages  more  violently.  Therefore  be¬ 
ware, 

And  dread,  lest  thou  should’st  thus  be  Creticus,  or  Camerinus. 
Whom  have  I  admonished  by  these  things  ?  with  thee  is  my 
discourse, 

Rubellius  Plautus :  you  swell  with  the  high  blood  of  the  Drusi, 
as  if  40 

You  yourself  had  done  something,  for  which  you  should  be 
noble  ; 

That  she  should  have  conceived  you,  who  shines  with  the  blood 
of  lulus, 

Not  she  who,  being  hired,  has  woven  under  the  windy  mount. 
“Ye  are  low,”  say  you,  “the  last  part  of  our  common  people; 

“  Of  whom  none  can  shew  the  country  of  his  parent :  45 

“But  I  am  a  Cecropian.” — May  you  live — and  long  enjoy  the 
happiness 

Of  this  origin:  yet,  from  the  lowest  of  the  people,  an  eloquent 
Roman 

You  Avill  find :  this  is  used  to  defend  the  causes  of  an 
Unlearned  nobleman  :  there  will  come  from  the  gowned  people 
Another,  who  can  untie  the  knots  of  right,  and  the  riddles  of  the 
laws.  f0 

This  youth  seeks  the  Euphrates,  and  of  conquer’d  Batavus 
The  guardian  eagles,  industrious  in  arms ;  but  thou 
Art  nothing  but  a  Cecropian,  and  most  like  to  a  mutilated  Herma ; 
For  you  excel  from  no  other  difference,  than  that 
He  has  a  marble  head,  your  image  lives.  ff 

Tell  me,  thou  offspring  of  the  Trojans,  who  thinks  dumb  ani¬ 
mals 

Noble,  unless  strong  ?  for  thus  a  swift 
Horse  we  praise,  for  whom  many  a  kind  hand 
Glows,  and  victory  exults  in  the  hoarse  circus. 

He  is  noble,  from  whatever  pasture  he  comes,  whose  flight  60 
Is  famous  before  the  others,  and  whose  dust  is  first  on  the  plain. 
But  the  cattle  of  Corytha  are  set  to  sale,  and  the  posterity  of 
Hirpinus,  if  rare  victory  sits  on  their  yoke. 

There  is  no  respect  of  ancestors,  no  favour 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


67 


Sat.  viii.] 

Of  shades ;  they  are  commanded  to  change  their  masters 
For  small  prices,  and  draw  waggons  with  a  worn  neck, 

Slow  of  foot,  and  worthy  to  turn  the  mill  of  Nepos. 

Therefore  that  we  may  admire  you,  not  yours,  first  shew  some¬ 
thing, 

Which  I  may  inscribe  among  your  titles  besides  your  honours, 
Which  we  give,  and  have  given,  to  them  to  whom  you  owe  alt. 
These  things  are  enough  to  the  youth,  whom  fame  delivers 
to  us  71 

Proud,  and  puffed  up,  and  full  of  his  kinsman  Nero. 

For  common  sense  is,  for  the  most  part,  rare  in  that 
Condition.  But  to  have  thee  esteemed  from  the  praise  of  your 
ancestors,  74 

Ponticus,  I  should  be  unwilling,  so  as  that  yourself  should  do 
Nothing  of  future  praise :  ;tis  miserable  to  rest  on  another’s 

FAME, 

Lest  the  house  fallen,  by  the  pillars  being  taken  away,  should 
tumble  into  ruins. 

The  vine  strow’d  on  the  ground  wants  the  widow’d  elms. 

Be  you  a  good  soldier,  a  faithful  tutor,  an  uncorrupted 
Umpire  also :  if  you  are  summoned  as  a  witness  in  a  doubtful 
And  uncertain  thing,  tho’  Phalaris  should  command  that  you 
Should  be  false,  and  should  dictate  perjuries  with  the  bull  brought 
to  you, 

Believe  it  the  highest  impiety  to  prefer  life  to  reputation, 
And,  for  the  sake  of  life,  to  lose  the  causes  of  living. 

He  perishes  worthy  of  death,  tho’  he  should  sup  on  an  hundred 
Gaurane  oysters,  and  should  be  immersed  in  the  whole  caldron 
of  Cosmus. 

When  at  length  the  province,  long  expected,  shall  receive  you 
Governor,  put  checks  to  anger,  and  measure  also 
Put  to  covetousness  :  pity  the  poor  associates.  89 

You  see  the  bones  of  kings  exhausted,  with  empty  marrow. 
Regard  what  the  laws  may  admonish,  what  the  state  command; 
How  great  rewards  may  await  the  good ;  with  how  just  a  stroke 
Both  Capito  and  Tutor  fell,  the  senate  condemning, 

The  robbers  of  the  Cilicians :  but  what  does  condemnation  avail 
When  Pansa  can  seize  whatever  Natta  left  you?  ** 

Look  about  for  a  crier,  Chserippus,  for  your  rags, 

And  now  be  silent :  it  is  madness,  after  all,  to  lose  your  freight. 
There  were  not  the  same  complaints  formerly,  nor  was  the 
wound  of 

Losses  equal,  when  our  associates  flourished,  and  were  just 
conquer’d. 

Then  every  house  was  full,  and  there  was  standing  a  great  heap 


68 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  viii. 


101 


Of  money,  a  Spartan  cloak,  purples  of  Cos, 

And  with  pictures  of  Parrhasius,  statues  of  Myron, 

The  ivory  of  Phidias  was  living,  also  every  where 
Much  of  the  labour  of  Polycletus :  few  tables  without  Mentor. 
Thence  is  Dolabella,  and  thence  Antony,  thence  105 

The  sacrilegious  Verres  :  they  brought  in  lofty  ships 
Hidden  spoils,  and  more  triumphs  from  peace. 

Now  the  associates  have  a  few  yokes  of  oxen,  and  a  small  herd 
*  of  mares. 

And  the  father  of  the  herd  will  be  taken  away  from  the  cap¬ 
tured  field. 

Then  the  very  household  gods,  if  any  remarkable  image,  110 
If  any  one  single  god  be  in  the  small  shrine.  But  these  (crime) 
are 

For  chiefs,  for  these  are  greatest. — You  may  despise, 

Perhaps,  the  weak  Rhodians,  and  anointed  Corinth : 

You  may  deservedly  despise  them :  what  can  effeminated 
youth 

And  the  smooth  legs  of  a  whole  nation  do  to  you  ?  115 

Rough  Spain  is  to  be  avoided,  the  Gallic  axis, 

And  the  coast  of  Illyria :  spare  also  those  reapers 
Who  supply  the  city,  intent  upon  the  circus,  and  the  theatre. 
But  how  great  rewards  of  so  dire  a  crime  will  you  bring  from 
thence, 

Since  Marius  has  lately  stripped  the  slender  Africans  ?  120 

First  care  is  to  be  taken,  lest  great  injury  be  done 
To  the  brave  and  miserable ;  tho’  you  may  take  away  entirely 
every  thing 

Of  gold  and  silver,  you  will  leave  the  shield  and  sword, 

And  darts,  and  helmet : — arms  remain  to  be  plunder’d. 

What  I  now  have  proposed  is  not  a  mere  opinion,  but 
Believe  me  to  recite  to  you  a  leaf  of  a  Sibyl. 

If  you  have  a  virtuous  set  of  attendants;  if  no  favourite 
Sells  your  seat  of  judgment;  if  no  crime  be  in  your  wife  ; 

Nor  thro’  the  districts,  and  thro’  the  towns,  with  crooked 
Talons,  does  she,  a  Celaeno,  contrive  to  go  to  seize  money ; 
Then,  you  may  reckon  your  lineage  from  Picus,  and,  if  high 


12.J 


names 


131 


Delight  you,  you  may  place  the  whole  Titanian  battle, 

And  Promethus  himself,  among  your  ancestors : 

Take  to  yourself  a  great-grandfather  from  whatever  book  you 
please. 

But  if  ambition,  and  lust,  hurry  you  headlong,  135 

If  you  break  rods  in  the  blood  of  the  allies,  if  thee 
Blunt  axes  delight,  the  lictor  being  tired, 

The  nobility  of  your  ancestors  themselves  begins  to  stand 


Sat.  viii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


69 


Against  you,  and  to  carry  a  clear  torch  before  your  shameful 
deeds. 

Evert  vice  of  the  mind  has  by  so  much  more  conspicuous  140 
Blame,  by  how  much  he  that  offends  is  accounted  gbeater. 
Wherefore  to  me  boast  yourself  accustomed  to  sign  false  wills 
In  the  temples,  which  your  grandfather  built,  and  before 
The  triumphal  statue  of  your  father  ?  what,  if  a  nightly  adult¬ 
erer, 

You  veil  your  cover’d  temples  with  a  Santonic  hood  ?  145 

By  the  ashes  of  his  ancestors,  and  their  bones,  in  a  swift 
Chariot,  fat  Damasippus  is  whirl’d  along,  and  he, 

Himself,  the  consul,  binds  the  wheel  with  many  a  drag. 

By  night  indeed,  but  the  moon  sees,  but  the  conscious  stars 
Fix  their  eyes  upon  him:  when  the  time  of  honour  is  finished, 
Damasippus,  in  the  clear  light,  the  whip  will  141 

Take,  and  no  where  tremble  at  the  meeting  of  a  friend 
Now  old,  but  will  first  make  a  sign,  with  his  whip ;  and  trusses 
Of  hay  will  loosen,  and  pour  in  barley  to  his  tired  beasts. 

Mean  time  while  he  kills  sheep,  and  the  fierce  bullock,  155 
After  the  manner  of  Numa,  before  the  altars  of  Jove,  he  swears 
by 

Hippona,  and  faces  painted  at  the  stinking  mangers  : 

But  when  he  pleases  to  renew  the  watchful  taverns, 

A  Syrophcenician,  wet  with  a  constant  perfume,  runs  to 
Meet  him,  a  Syrophcenician  inhabitant  of  the  Idumsean  gate ; 
With  the  affectation  of  an  host,  he  salutes  him  lord  and  king ; 
And  nimble  Cyane  with  a  venal  flagon.  162 

A  defender  of  his  fault  will  say  to  me,  “  We  also  have  done 
“  these  things 

“  When  young  men.”  “  Be  it  so — but  you  left  off,  nor  farther 
“  Cherish’d  your  error. — Let  that  be  short  which  you  shamefully 
“  adventure.” 

Some  crimes  should  be  cut  off  with  the  first  beard. 

Indulge  favour  to  boys.  Damasippus  goes  to  those 
Cups  of  the  hot  baths,  and  to  the  inscribed  linen, 

Mature  for  the  war  of  Armenia,  and  for  defending  the  rivers 
Of  Syria,  and  for  the  Rhine  and  Ister.  To  make  Ner  170 
Safe,  this  age  is  able.  Send,  Cgesar,  send  to  Ostia, 

But  seek  your  legate  in  a  great  tavern. 

You  will  find  him  lying  by  some  cut-throat, 

Mix’d  with  sailors,  or  thieves,  or  fugitives, 

Among  hangmen,  or  makers  of  coffins,  m 

And  the  ceasing  drums  of  a  priest  of  Cybele  lying  on  his  back. 
There  is  equal  liberty,  cups  in  common,  not  another  couch 
To  any  one,  nor  a  table  more  remote  to  any. 


70 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  viii. 


180 


184 


190 


19S 


What  would  you  do,  Ponticus,  if  you  had  such  a  slave  ? 

You  would  surely  send  him  among  the  Lucani,  or  the  Tuscan 
workhouses. 

But  you,  sons  of  Troy,  forgive  yourselves,  and  what  things 
Are  base  to  a  cobbler,  will  become  the  Yolesi  or  Bruti.  ■ 

What,  if  we  never  use  so  foul,  and  so  shameful 
Examples,  that  worse  cannot  remain  ? 

Thy  riches  consumed,  thy  voice,  Damasippus,  thou  hast  hired  to 
The  stage,  that  thou  mightest  act  the  noisy  Phasma  of  Catullus. 
Yelox  Lentulus  also  acted  well  Laureolus, 

Worthy,  I  being  judge,  a  real  cross.  Nor  yet  can  you 
Excuse  the  very  people :  the  front  of  this  people  is  still  harder, 
Who  sits,  and  beholds  the  buffooneries  of  patricians: 

Hears  barefooted  Fabii — who  can  laugh  at  the  slaps 
Of  the  Mamerci.  At  what  price  they  may  sell  their  deaths 
What  does  it  signify?  they  sell  them,  no  Nero  compelling, 

Nor  doubt  to  sell  them  to  the  shows  of  the  haughty  prsetor. 

But  imagine  the  swords  there,  and  put  the  stage  here: 

Which  is  best  ?  has  any  one  so  feared  death,  that  he  should  be 
Jealous  of  Thymele :  the  colleague  of  stupid  Corinthus  ? 

Yet  it  is  not  surprising,  when  the  prince  is  a  harper,  that  the 
noble 

Is  a  mimic:  after  these  things,  what  will  there  be  but  a  play? 
and  there 

You  have  the  disgrace  of  the  city:  Gracchus,  neither  in  the 
arms  of  a  Mirmillo,  200 

Nor  fighting  with  the  shield,  or  held-up  scythe, 

(For  he  condemns  such  habits,  but  he  condemns  and  hates 
them,) 

Nor  hides  his  forehead  with  an  helmet :  behold  he  moves  a 
trident, 

After  the  nets,  hanging  from  his  balanced  right-hand, 

He  has  cast  in  vain,  his  countenance  naked  to  the  scaffolds  204 
He  erects,  and  flies  to  be  acknowledged  over  the  whole  arena. 
Let  us  trust  to  his  tunic,  since  a  golden  wreath  from  his  jaws 
Stretches  itself,  and  is  tossed  from  his  long  cap. 

Therefore  the  Secutor  bore  an  heavier  ignominy  than  any 
Wound,  being  commanded  to  fight  with  Gracchus 
If  free  suffrages  were  allowed  the  people,  who  is  so 
Lost,  as  that  he  should  doubt  to  prefer  Seneca  lo  Nero  ? 

For  whose  punishment  there  ought  not  to  be  prepared 
One  ape,  nor  one  serpent,  nor  one  sack. 

The  crime  of  Orestes  was  equal ;  but  the  cause  makes  the  thing 
Unlike,  for  he,  the  gods  being  commanders,  was  the  avenger 
Of  a  father  slain  in  the  midst  of  his  cups :  but  he  neither 


310 


314 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


71 


Sat.  viii.] 


220 


225 


230 


Polluted  himself  with  the  throat  of  Eleetra,  nor  with  the  blood 
Of  Spartan  wedlock :  poison  for  none  of  his  relations 
Did  he  mix.  Orestes  never  sang  upon  the  stage : 

Never  wrote  Troics:  for  what  ought  Virginius  with  his  arms 
Rather  avenge,  or  Galba  with  Vindex  ? 

What  did  Nero  in  a  tyranny  so  savage  and  bloody? 

These  are  the  works,  and  these  the  arts  of  a  noble  prince, 
Rejoicing,  with  shameless  song,  on  foreign  states  to  be 
Prostituted,  and  to  have  deserved  the  parsley  of  a  Grecian 
crown. 

“  Let  the  statues  of  your  ancestors  have  the  tokens  of  your  voice, 
“Before  the  feet  of  Domitius  do  thou  place  the  lcng  garment 
“  Of  Thyestes :  or  of  Antigone ;  or  the  mask  of  Menalippe : 

“  And  suspend  an  harp  from  a  marble  colossus.” 

Who,  Catiline,  will  find  out  any  thing  more  noble  than  your 
birth, 

Or  than  that  of  Cethegus  ?  but  yet,  nocturnal 

Arms,  and  flames,  for  the  houses  and  temples  ye  prepared, 

As  sons  of  the  Gauls,  or  the  posterity  of  the  Senones, 
Attempting  what  it  would  be  right  to  punish  with  a  pitched 
coat:  23fi 

But  the  consul  is  vigilant,  and  restrains  your  banners. 

This  new  man  of  Arpinum,  ignoble,  and  lately  at  Rome 
A  municipal  knight,  puts  every  where  an  helmeted 
Safeguard  for  the  astonished  people,  and  labours  every  where. 
Therefore  the  gown  conferred  on  him,  within  the  wails,  more 
fame  240 

And  honour,  than  Octavius  brought  away  from  Leucas,  or  from 
The  fields  of  Thessaly,  by  his  sword  wet 
With  continual  slaughters.  But  Rome,  the  parent, 

Rome  set  free,  called  Cicero  the  father  of  his  country. 

Another  Arpinian,  in  the  mountain  of  the  Volsci,  used 
To  demand  wages,  tired  with  the  plough  of  another  man; 

After  this  he  broke  a  knotty  vine  with  his  head, 

If,  idle,  he  fortified  the  camp  with  a  lazy  axe. 

Yet  he  both  the  Cimbri,  and  the  greatest  dangers  of  affairs, 
Sustains,  and  alone  protects  the  trembling  city. 

And  so,  after  to  the  Cimbri,  and  to  the  slaughter,  the  crows 
Flew,  who  had  never  touched  greater  carcases, 

His  noble  colleague  is  adorned  with  the  second  laurel. 

'The  souls  of  the  Decii  were  plebeian,  their  names 
Plebeian :  yet  these,  for  whole  legions,  and  for  all 
Our  auxiliaries,  and  for  all  the  Latin  common  people, 

Suffice  for  the  infernal  Gods,  and  parent  Earth: 

For  the  Decii  were  of  more  value  than  those  who  were  saved 
by  them. 


245 


25C 


255 


72 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  viii. 


Born  from  a  servant  maid,  the  robe  and  diadem  of  Romulus, 
And  the  fasces,  the  last  of  good  kings  deserved.  260 

The  youths  of  the  counsebhimself  were  opening  the  fastenings 
Of  the  gates,  betrayed  to  the  exiled  tyrants,  and  whom 
Some  great  thing  for  doubtful  liberty  might  have  become, 
Which  Mutius,  with  Codes,  might  admire,  and  the  virgin 
Who  swam  the  Tiber,  the  bounds  of  our  empire.  265 

A  slave,  to  be  bewailed  by  matrons,  produced  their  hidden 
crimes 

To  the  fathers:  but  stripes  affected  them  with  just 
Punishment,  and  the  first  axe  of  the  laws. 

I  had  rather  thy  father  were  Thersites,  so  thou  art 
Like  Achilles,  and  take  in  hand  the  Vulcanian  arms, 

Than  that  Achilles  should  produce  thee  like  Thersites. 

And  yet,  however  far  you  may  fetch,  and  far  revolve 
Your  name,  you  deduce  your  race  from  an  infamous  asylum. 
Whoever  he,  the  first  of  your  ancestors,  was, 

Either  he  was  a  shepherd,  or  that  which  I  am  unwilling  to 
say. 


270 


27  g 


SATIRE  IX. 


ARGUMENT. 

Juvenal,  in  this  Satire,  exposes  and  censures  the  detestable  vice  then  prac¬ 
tised  at  Rome.  Some  have  thought  that  this  is  done  too  openly.  So 
Farnaby — Obsccenam  cinae dorum  et  pathicorum  turpitudinem  acriter,  at 
nimis  aperte  insectatur.  Marshall  says,  that,  on  account  of  certain  ex¬ 
pressions  in  this  Satire,  Jul.  C.  Scaliger  advised  every  man  of  probity  to 
abstain  from  the  whole  work  of  Juvenal.  But,  surely,  this  is  greatly 
mistaking  the  matter,  and  not  adverting  duly  to  the  difference  between 
such  writers  as  exert  their  genius  in  the  cause  of  vice,  and  so  write  upon 
it,  as  if  they  wished  to  recommend  it  to  the  imagination,  and  thus  to  the 
practice  of  mankind,  (as  Horace  among  the  Romans,  and  Lord  Roches¬ 
ter  among  us,)  and  such  a  writer  as  Juvenal,  who  exerted  a  fine  genius, 
and  an  able  pen,  against  vice,  and,  in  particular,  against  that  which  is  the 
chief  object  of  this  Satire ;  in  which  he  sets  it  forth  in  such  terms  as  to 
create  a  disgust  and  abhorrence,  not  only  of  those  monsters  of  lewdnese 
who  practised  it,  but  also  of  the  vice  itself:  so  that  both  might  be  avoided 
by  the  indignant  reader,  and  beheld  in  the  highest  detestation  and  horror. 
Such  were  our  Poet’s  views  in  what  he  wrote,  and  therefore  the  plain¬ 
ness  of  his  expressions  he,  doubtless,  thought  much  more  conducive  to 
this  desired  end,  as  tending  to  render  the  subject,  the  more  shocking,  than 
if  he  had  contented  himself  with  only  touching  it  with  the  gentler  hand 
of  periphrasis,  or  circumlocution. 

I  would  know,  why  so  often,  Nsevolus,  you  meet  me, 

Sad,  with  a  clouded  brow,  like  the  conquered  Marsyas. 

What  have  you  to  do  with  a  countenance,  such  as  llavola  had 
Discovered  in  his  lewd  commerce  with  Rhodope? 

We  give  a  box  on  the  ear  to  a  servant  who  licks  biscuits. 

Not  more  miserable  than  this  face  was  Orepereius 
Pollio,  who,  ready  to  pay  triple  interest, 

Went  about,  and  found  not  fools. —  Whence  on  a  sudden 
So  many  wrinkles?  certainly,  content  with  a  little,  you  acted 
The  knight-like  slave,  a  facetious  guest  with  biting  jest, 

And  quick  with  witticisms  born  within  the  limits  ol  the  city. 
All  is  now  contrary:  a  heavy  countenance,  a  rough  wood 
Of  dry  hair:  no  neatness  in  all  your  skin,  such  as 
A  bandage  of  warm  glue  daubed  about  you  procured; 

But  your  legs  are  neglected,  and  filthy  with  hair  growing.  ** 


n 


JUVENAL'S'  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  lx- 

What  means  the  leanness  of  an  old  sick  man,  whom  for  a  long, 
time 

A  fourth  day  parches^  and  a  fever,  long  since  familiar? 

You  may  discover  the  torments  of  a  mind  lurking  in  a  sick 
Body,  and  you  may  discover  joys :  each  habit  the  face 
Assumes  from  thence.  Therefore  you  seem  to  have  turned 
Your  purpose,  and  to  go  contrary  to  your  former  life. 

For  lately  (as  I  recollect)  the  temple  of  Isis,  and  the  Ganymede- 
Of  (the  temple  of)  Peace,  and  the  secret  courts  of  Cybele, 

And  Ceres,  (for  in  what  temple  does  not  a  woman  stand  for 
hire  ?) 

An  adulterer;  more  known  than  Aufidius,  you  used  to  fre¬ 
quent,  2S 

And  (which  not  to  mention)  to  intrigue  even  with  the  very 
husbands. 

NiEV.  And  this  kind  of  life  is  useful  to  many,  but  I  have  no 
Reward  of  my  pains  from  thence.  Sometimes  coarse  garments, 
Defences  of  the  gown,  of  an  harsh  and  homely  colour, 

And  badly  stricken  with  the  slay  of  a  Gallic  weaver, 

We  receive.  Thin  money,  and  of  the  second  vein. 

The  fates  govern  men.  Fate  attends  even  our 
Bodily  accomplishments,  for,  if  your  stars  fail  you. 

The  greatness  of  these  is  of  no  service:: 

Tho’  Virro  himself  should  view  you  with  the  utmost 
Desire,  and  kind,  assiduous,  and  numerous  letters  should 
Solicit : — for  such  a  man  entices  others. 

But  what  monster  can  be  beyond  an  effeminate  miser? — 
“These  things  I  bestowed,  then  those  I  gave, soon  you  received 
“  more." 

He  computes,  and  sins  on— “Let  a  reckoning  be  made,  let  the 
“slaves 

“Come  with  the  ledger: — number  five  sestertiums 
“In  every  thing" — “then  let  my  labours  be  reckon'd — 

“Is  it  an  easy  and  ready  matter  to  engage  in  so  much  filth, 

“  And  to  rake  into  the  recesses  of  the  most  horrid  abomination  ? — 
“The  slave  that  digs  the  field  will  be  less  miserable. —  4* 

“But  truly  you  are  delicate,  and  thought. yourself  young, 

“And  beautiful,  and  worthy  heaven  and  the  cup. 

“Will  ye  ever  be  kind  to  an  humble  attendant,  to  one  who  makes 
“  Ilis  court,  who  are  now  not  ready  to  bestoAv  on  your  disease  ?” 
Behold  him  to  whom  you  must  send  a  green  umbrella,  to  whom 
great  50 

Pieces  of  amber,  as  often  as  his  birth-day  returns,  or  the  moist 
spring 

Begins:  placed  on  a  chair,  both  strowed  and  long, 


75 


Sat.  ix.]  JUVENAL  S  SATIRES* 

He  handies  secret  gifts  in  the  feminine  calends. 

Say,  sparrow,  for  whom  so  many  mountains,  so  many  Appulian 
Farms  you  keep,  so  many  kites  tired  within  your  pastures?  54 
A  Trifoline  field  fills  you  with  fruitful  vines, 

And  the  hill  seem  aloft  at  Cumas,  and  empty  Gaurus. 

For  who  stops  up  more  casks  with  wine  likely  to  live? 

How  much  had  it  been  to  present  the  loins  of  an  exhausted 
client  60 

With  a  few  acres?  Is  it  better  that  this  rustic  infant, 

With  its  mother  and  their  cottage,  and  with  the  cur  their  play¬ 
fellow, 

Should  become  the  legacy  of  a  friend  beating  the  cymbals? 
“You  are  impudent  when  you  ask,”  says  he.  “But  rent  calls 
“  out, 

“Ask:  but  my  only  slave  calls,  as  Polypheme’s 
-  “ Broad  eye,  by  which  crafty  Ulysses  escaped:  *5 

“  Another  will  be  to  be  bought,  for  this  does  not  suffice — both 
“Are  to  be  fed.  What  shall  I  do  when  winter  blows  ?  what,  I 
“pray, 

“  What  shall  I  say  to  the  shoulders  of  my  slaves  in  the  month 
“of  December, 

“  And  to  their  feet  ? — Stay,  and  expect  the  grasshoppers !” 

But  however  you  may  dissemble,  however  omit  the  rest,  at  how 
great  a  70 

Price  do  you  reckon  it,  that,  unless  I  had  been  to  you  a  resigned 
And  a  devoted  client,  your  wife  would  remain  a  virgin  ? 

Foil  certainly  know  by  what  methods — how  oft  you  asked 
those  things, 

And  what  you  promised:  how  often  the  flying  girl 
I  caught  in  my  embrace ;  she  had  broken  the  tables,  and  now  7S 
Was  signing.  I  hardly  redeemed  this  in  a  whole  night, 

You  weeping  without-doors :  the  bed  is  my  witness  and  thou, 
Who  wast  thyself  ear-witness  of  every  circumstance. 

Unstable  wedlock,  and  begun  to  be  broken  off,  and  almost  dis¬ 
solved, 

An  adulterer,  in  many  houses,  has  preserved.  ** 

Whither  can  you  turn  ? — what  can  you  place  first  or  last  ? 

Is  it  therefore  no  merit,  ungrateful  and  perfidious,  none, 

That  a  little  son  or  a  daughter  is  born  to  you  by  me? 

For  you  bring  them  up,  and  in  the  books  of  the  acts  you  delight 
to  publish 

Arguments  of  a  man.  Suspend  garlands  at  your  doors —  84 
You  are  now  a  father;  I  have  given  what  you  may  oppose  to 

report. 

You  have  the  rights  of  a  parent :  by  my  means  you  are  written 
heir, 


76  JUVENAL’S  SATIRES.  [Sat.  jx. 

You  receive  all  the  legacy  :  not  to  say  some  sweet  windfall. 
Moreover  many  conveniences  are  joined  to  windfalls, 

Ef  I  should  fill  up  the  number  three. — 

- Juv.  The  cause  of  your  grief,  Nasvolus, 

Is  just.  But  what  does  he  bring  against  it? — 

Nadv.  He  neglects  me,  and  seeks  another  two-legged  ass  for 
himself. 

Remember  to  conceal  these  things  committed  to  you  alone, 

And  silent  fix  within  thee  my  complaints; 

For  an  enemy,  smooth  with  pumice-stone,  is  a  deadly  thing.  01 
He  who  lately  committed  the  secret,  burns,  and  hates, 

As  if  I  had  betrayed  whatever  I  know :  to  take  the  sword, 

To  open  my  head  with  a  club,  to  put  a  candle  to  my  doors, 

He  doubts  not.  Neither  contemn  nor  despise,  that, 

To  these  riches,  the  provision  of  poison  is  never  dear.  fc 

Therefore  you  conceal  secrets,  as  the  court  of  Mars  at  Athens. 

Juv.  O  Corydon,  Corydon,  think  you  there  is  any  secret 
Of  a  rich  man  ?  if  the  servants  should  be  silent,  the  cattle  will 
speak, 

And  the  dog,  and  the  posts,  and  the  marbles:  shut  the  win¬ 
dows,  104 

Let  curtains  cover  the  chinks,  close  the  doors,  take  the  light 
Out  of  the  way,  let  all  be  silent,  let  nobody  lie  near : 

Yet  what  he  does  at  the  crowing  of  the  second  cock, 

The  next  vintner  will  know  before  day,  and  will  hear  what 
The  steward,  the  master-cooks,  and  carvers  have  together 
invented:  for  what  crime  do  they  hesitate  to  frame  against  11C 
Their  masters  ?  how  often  are  straps  revenged 
By  rumours?  Nor  will  there  fail  one  who  will  seek  thee  thror 
the  streets 

Unwilling,  and,  smelling  of  wine,  will  inebriate  your  wretched 
ear. 

Therefore  you  should  ask  them,  what  a  little  before  you  sought 
From  me:  let  them  be  silent:  but  they  had  rather  betray  u* 
A  secret,  than  drink  of  stolen  Falernan, 

As  much  as  Laufella,  sacrificing  for  the  people,  drank. 

One  should  live  rightly,  as  on  many  accounts,  so  especially 
For  these  causes,  that  the  tongues  of  slaves  you  may 
Contemn :  for  the  tongue  is  the  worst  part  of  a  bad  servant. 

Yet  he  is  worse,  who  shall  not  be  free,  than  those 
Whose  lives  he  preserves,  both  with  his  corn  and  money. 

N;ev.  Therefore,  that  I  may  despise  the  tongue  of  a  servant, 
You  have  just  now  given  useful,  but  common,  counsel : 

Now  what  do  you  persuade  me  to,  after  loss  of  time,  and  hopes  124 
Deceived?  for  the  hasty  little  flower,  and  very  short 
PORTION 


Sat.  ix.] 


JUVENAL'S  SATIRES. 


77 


Of  a  miserable  life,  hastens  to  pass  awat  : 

While  we  drink,  and  chaplets,  ointments,  girls, 

We  call  for,  old  age,  unperceived,  creeps  upon  us. 

Juv.  Fear  not:  you  will  never  want  a  pathic  friend,  1,9 
These  hills  standing  and  safe  :  from  every  where  to  them 
There  come  together,  in  chariots  and  ships,  all 
Who  scratch  the  head  with  one  finger :  another  greater 
Hope  remains,  do  thou  only  impress  thy  tooth  on  rockets. 

NjEV.  Prepare  these  examples  for  the  fortunate;  but  mv 
Clotho  ' 

And  Lachesis  rejoice,  if  I  barely  live  by  my  vices. 

O  my  little  Lares !  whom  with  small  frankincense, 

Or  with  meal,  and  a  slender  chaplet,  I  use  to  adorn, 

When  shall  I  fix  any  thing,  by  which  old  age  may  be  secure 
to  me 

From  the  rug  and  staff? — Twenty  thousand  interest  149 

With  pledges  set  down  ?  little  vessels  of  pure  silver, 

But  which  the  censor  Fabricius  would  note — and  two  strong 
ones 

From  the  herd  of  the  Mcesi,  who,  with  shoulders  placed  [under 
me] 

May  command  me  to  stand  secure  in  the  noisy  circus  ? — 

Let  me  have  besides  a  skilful  engraver — and  another  14‘ 

Who  can  quickly  paint  many  faces: — these  things  will  suffice. 
Since  I  shall  be  poor,  a  wretched  wish ! — Nor  is  there  hope 
Only  for  these ;  for  when  Fortune  is  petitioned  for  me, 

She  affixes  wax,  fetched  from  that  ship, 

Which  escaped  the  Sicilian  songs,  with  a  deaf  rower.  lw 


SATIRE  X. 


ARGUMENT. 

The  Poet’s  design  in  this  Satire,  which  deseivedly  holds  the  first  rank 
among  all  performances  of  the  kind,  is  to  represent  the  various  wishes 
and  desires  of  mankind,  and  to  show  the  folly  of  them.  He  mentions 
riches,  honours,  eloquence,  fame  for  martial  achievements,  long  life,  and 
beauty,  and  gives  instances  of  their  having  proved  ruinous  to  the  possess¬ 
ors  of  them.  He  concludes,  therefore,  that  we  should  leave  it  to  the 
gods  to  make  a  choice  for  us,  they  knowing  what  is  most  for  our  good. 
All  that  we  can  safely  ask  is  health  of  body  and  mind  :  possessed  of  these, 
we  have  enough  to  make  us  happy,  and  therefore  it  is  not  much  matter 
what  we  want  beside. 

In  all  lands,  which  are  from  Gades  to 
The  East  and  the  Ganges,  few  can  distinguish 
True  good  things,  and  those  greatly  different  from  them,  the 
cloud 

Of  error  removed :  for  what,  with  reason  do  we  fear, 

Or  desire  ?  what  do  you  contrive  so  prosperously,  that  you  4 
May  not  repent  of  your  endeavour,  and  of  your  accomplished 
wish? 

The  easy  gods  have  overturned  whole  houses,  themselves 
Wishing  it.  Things  hurtful  by  the  gown,  hurtful  by  warfare, 
Are  asked :  a  fluent  copiousness  of  speech  to  many 
And  their  own  eloquence  is  deadly. — He,  to  his  strength  1# 
Trusting,  and  to  his  wonderful  arms,  perished. 

But  money,  heap’d  together  with  too  much  care,  destroys 
More,  and  an  income  exceeding  all  patrimonies, 

As  much  as  a  British  whale  is  greater  than  dolphins. 

Therefore  in  direful  times,  and  by  the  command  of  Nero,  15 
A  whole  troop  Longinus,  and  the  large  gardens  of  wealthy  Sen¬ 
eca, 

Surrounded,  and  beseiged  the  stately  buildings  of  the  Laterani — 
The  soldier  seldom  comes  into  a  garret. 

Tho’  you  should  cai;ry  a  few  small  vessels  of  pure  silver, 

Going  on  a  journey  by  night,  you  will  fear  the  sword  and  the 
pole,  20 

And  tremble  at  the  shadow  of  a  reed  moved,  by  moon-light. 


■Sat.  x.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


79 


An  empty  traveller  will  sing  before  a  bobber. 

Commonly  the  first  things  prayed  for,  and  most  known  at  all 
temples, 

Are,  that  riches  may  increase,  and  wealth ;  that  our  chest  may  be 
The  greatest  in  the  whole  forum :  but  no  poisons  are  drunk 
From  earthen  ware:  then  fear  them,  when  you  take  cups  26 
Set  with  gems,  and  Setine  wine  shall  sparkle  in  wide  gold. 

Nor  therefore  do  you  approve,  that  one  of  the  wise  men 
Laugh’d,  as  oft  as  from  the  threshold  he  had  moved,  and 
Brought  forward  one  foot ;  the  other  contrary,  wept  ?  5C 

But  the  censure  of  a  severe  laugh  is  easy  to  any  one, 

The  wonder  is  whence  that  moisture  could  suffice  for  his  eyes. 
With  perpetual  laughter,  Democritus  used  to  agitate 
His  lungs,  tho’  there  were  not,  in  those  cities, 

■Senatorial  gowns,  robes,  rods,  a  litter,  a  tribunal. 

What,  if  he  had  seen  the  praetor,  in  high  chariots 
•Standing  forth,  and  sublime  in  the  midst  of  the  dust  of  the  circus, 
In  the  coat  of  Jove,  and  bearing  from  his  shoulders  the  Tyrian 
Tapestry  on  an  embroider’d  gown,  and  of  a  great  crown 
So  large  an  orb,  as  no  neck  is  sufficient  for  ?  43 

For  a  sAveating  officer  holds  this,  and  lest  the  consul  should 
.Please  himself,  a  slave  is  carried  in  the  same  chariot. 

Now  add  the  bird  Avhich  rises  on  the  ivory  sceptre, 

There  the  trumpeters,  here  the  preceding  offices  of  a  long 
Train,  and  the  snowy  citizens  at  his  bridles,  4t> 

Whom  the  sportula,  buried  in  his  coffers,  has  made  his  friends. 
Then  also  he  found  matter  of  laughter  at  all 
Meetings  of  men ;  whose  prudence  shews, 

That  great  men,  and  those  about  to  give  great  examples, 

May  be  born  in  the  country  of  blockheads,  and  under  thick  air. 
He  derided  the  cares,  and  also  the  joys  of  the  vulgar,  i0 

And  sometimes  their  tears  ;  when  himself  could  present  a  halter 
To  threat’ning  fortune,  and  shew  his  middle  nail. 

Therefore,  these  (are)  unprofitable,  or  pernicious  tilings,  (which) 
are  ask’d, 

For  which  it  is  lawful  to  cover  Avith  wax  the  knees  of  the  gods. 
Power,  subject  to  great  envy,  precipitates  some,  ** 

A  long  and  famous  catalogue  of  honours  overwhelms, 

Statues  descend  and  they  follow  the  rope ; 

Then,  the  driven  axe,  the  very  Avheels  of  two-horse  cars 
Demolishes,  and  the  legs  of  the  undeserving  horses  are  broken. 
Now  the  fires  roar,  now  with  bellows  and  stoves, 

The  head  adorned  by  the  people  burns,  and  the  great  Sejanus 
Cracks:  then,  from  the  second  face  in  the  Avhole  world, 

Arc  made  water-pots,  basons,  a  frying-pan,  platters. 


80 


JUVENALIS  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  x . 


Place  laurels  at  your  house,  lead  to  the  capitol  a  large 
White  bull ;  Sejanus  is  dragg’d  by  a  hook 
To  be  look’d  upon :  all  rejoice :  “  what  lips  ?  what  a  counte¬ 
nance 

“  He  had  ?  I  never  (if  you  at  all  believe  me)  loved 
“This  man:— but  under  what  crime  did  he  fall?  who  was 
“  The  informer  ?  from  what  discoveries  ?  by  what  witness  hath 
“he  prov’d  it  ?”  70 

“Nothing  of  these:  a  verbose  and  great  epistle  came  from 
“  Caprese :” — “  It  is  very  well,  I  ask  no  more :  but  what  did 
“The  mob  of  Remus?” — “It  follows  fortune,  as  always,  and 
“  hates 

“The  condemn’d — The  same  people,  if  Nurscia  had  favour’d 
“  The  Tuscan — if  the  secure  old  age  of  the  prince  had  been  7f 
“  Oppressed,  would,  in  this  very  hour,  have  called  Sejanus, 

“  Augustus.  Long  ago,  ever  since  we  sell  our  suffrages 
“  To  none,  it  has  done  with  cares;  for  it,  which  once  gave 
“  Authority,  fasces,  legions,  all  things,  now  itself 
“Refrains,  and  anxious  only  wishes  for  two  things,  **' 

“  Bread  and  the  Circenses.” — “  I  hear  many  are  about  to  per- 
“  ish” — 

“  No  doubt :  the  furnace  is  large :  my  friend  Brutidius 
“  Met  me,  a  little  pale,  at  the  altar  of  Mars” — » 

“  How  I  fear  lest  Ajax  conquer’d  should  exact  punishment, 

“  As  defended  badly ! — let  us  run  headlong,  and,  while  he  ** 
“  Lies  on  the  bank,  trample  on  the  enemy  of  Caesar. 

“  But  let  the  slaves  see,  lest  any  should  deny  it,  and  drag  into 
“  Law  their  fearful  master  with  shackled  neck:”  these  were  the 
Discourses  then  about  Sejanus ;  these  the  secret  murmurs  of  the 
vulgar. 

Will  you  be  saluted  as  Sejanus  ?  have 
As  much — and  give  to  one  chief  chairs  of  state — 

Set  another  at  head  of  armies  ?  be  accounted  guardian 
Of  a  prince,  sitting  in  the  august  rock  of  Caprese, 

With  a  Chaldsean  band?  you  certainly  would  have  javelins, 
cohorts, 

Choice  horsemen,  domestic  tents.  “  Why  should  you  not  M 
£{  Desire  these  things  ?”  Even  those  who  would  not  kill  any  one 
Would  be  able.  But  what  renowned  and  prosperous  things 
are  of  so  much 

Value,  since  to  posterity  there  may  be  an  equal  measure  of  evils  ? 
Had  you  rather  take  the  robe  of  this  man,  who  is  dragg’d 
Along,  or  be  the  power  of  Fidenae,  or  Gabii,  ,0® 

And  judge  about  a  measure,  and  lesser  vessels 
Break,  a  ragged  aedile  at  empty  Ulubrae  ? — 


Sat.  x.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


81 


10* 


11* 


US 


iso 


Therefore,  what  was  to  he  wish’d  for,  you  will  confess  Sejanus 
To  have  been  ignorant :  for  he  who  desired  too  many  honours, 
And  sought  too  much  wealth,  was  preparing  numerous 
Stories  of  an  high  tower,  from  whence  his  fall  might  be 
Higher,  and  the  precipice  of  his  enforced  ruin  be  dreadful. 

What  overthrew  the  Crassi,  the  Pompeys,  and  him  who 
Brought  down  the  subdued  Romans  to  his  scourges  ? 

Why  truly,  the  chief  place,  sought  by  every  art, 

And  great  vows  listen’d  to  by  malignant  gods. 

To  the  son-in-law  of  Ceres,  without  slaughter  and  wound,  few 
Kings  descend,  and  tyrants  by  a  dry  death. 

For  the  eloquence  and  fame  of  Demosthenes  or  of  Cicero, 
He  begins  to  wish,  and  does  wish  during  the  whole  Quinqua- 
tria, 

Whoever  reveres  Minerva,  hitherto  gotten  for  three  farthings, 
Whom  a  little  slave  follows,  the  keeper  of  his  narrow  satchel : 
But  each  orator  perish’d  by  eloquence;  each 
A  large  and  overflowing  fountain  of  genius  consigned  to  death. 
The  hand  and  neck  was  cut  off  by  a  genius;  nor  ever 
Were  rostra  wet  with  the  blood  of  a  weak  lawyer. 

O  fortunatam  natam,  me  consulc,  Romam ! 

He  might  have  contemn’d  the  swords  of  Antony,  if  thus 
He  had  said  all  things.  I  like  better  laughable  poems, 

Than  thee,  divine  Philippic  of  conspicuous  fame, 

Who  art  roll’d  up  next  from  the  first.  Him  also  a  cruel 
Death  snatched  away,  whom  Athens  admired, 

Rapid,  and  moderating  the  reins  of  the  full  theatre. 

He  was  begotten,  the  gods  adverse,  and  fate  unpropitious, 
Whom  his  father,  blear-eyed  with  the  reek  of  a  burning  mass. 
From  coal  and  pincers,  and  from  the  anvil  preparing 
Swords,  and  from  dirty  Vulcan,  sent  to  a  rhetorician. 

The  spoils  of  war,  to  maimed  trophies  a  breast-plate 
Fixed,  and  a  beaver  hanging  from  a  broken  helmet, 

A  yoke  deprived  of  its  beam,  the  flag  of  a  conquer’d 
Three-oar’d  vessel,  and  the  sad  captive  at  the  top  of  an  arch, 
Are  believed  to  be  greater  than  human  goods:  for  these 
The  Roman,  Greek,  and  Barbarian  commander  hath 
Exerted  himself:  the  causes  of  danger  and  labour  hath  had 
From  thence.  So  much  greater  is  the  thirst  of  fame  than 
Of  Virtue :  for  who  embraces  even  virtue  itself, 

If  you  take  away  its  rewards? — yet  formerly  the  glory  of  a 
few 

Has  ruined  a  country,  and  the  lust  of  praise,  and  of 
A  title  to  be  fixed  to  the  stones,  the  keepers  of  their  ashes: 

wli'ch, 


ii* 


13* 


13* 


140 


82 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  x. 


15* 


160 


To  throw  down,  the  evil  strength  of  a  barren  fig-tree  is  able, 
Since  fates  are  given  also  to  sepulchres  themselves.  ut 

Weigh  Hannibal — how  many  pounds  will  you  find  in  that 
Great  General?  this  is  he,  whom  Africa  wash’d  by  the  Moorish 
Sea,  and  adjoining  to  the  warm  Nile,  does  not  contain : 

Again,  to  the  people  of  Ethiopia,  and  to  other  elephants, 

Spain  is  added  to  his  empires:  the  Pyrenean 
He  passes:  nature  opposed  both  Alps  and  snow: 

He  severed  rocks,  and  rent  the  mountain  with  vinegar. 

He  now  possesses  Italy,  yet  endeavours  to  go  farther  : 
i: Nothing  is  done,”  says  he,  “unless,  with  the  Punic  army,  we 
“  break 

“The  gates,  and  I  place  a  banner  in  the  midst  of  Suburra 
O  what  a  face !  and  worthy  of  what  a  picture ! 

When  the  Getulian  beast  carried  the  one-eyed  general! 

Then  what  his  exit?  O  glory!  for  this  same  man 
Is  subdued,  and  flies  headlong  into  banishment,  and  there  a 
great 

And  much  to  be  admired  client  sits  at  the  palace  of  the  king, 
Till  it  might  please  the  Bithynian  tyrant  to  awake. 

The  end  of  that  life,  which  once  disturbed  human  affairs, 

Nor  swords,  nor  stones,  nor  darts  gave,  but  that 
Redressor  of  Canme,  and  avenger  of  so  much  blood, 

A  ring. — Go,  madman,  and  run  over  the  savage  Alps, 

That  you  may  please  boys,  and  become  a  declamation. 

One  world  did  not  suffice  the  Pellaean  youth : 

He  chafes  unhappy  in  the  narrow  limit  of  the  world, 

As  one  shut  up  in  the  rocks  of  Gyaras,  or  small  Seriphus. 

Yet  when  he  had  enter’d  the  city  fortified  by  briekmakers, 

He  was  content  with  a  Sarcophagus.  Death  only  discovers 
How  little  the  small  bodies  of  men  are.  It  is  believed,  that 
formerly, 

Athos  was  sailed  thro’,  and  whatever  lying  Greece 
Adventures  in  history ;  the  solid  sea  strowed  with 
Those  very  ships,  and  put  under  wheels:  we  believe  deep 
Rivers  to  have  failed,  and  their  waters  drunk  up  when 
Mede 

Dined,  and  what  things  Sostratus  sings  with  wet  wings. 

But  what  did  that  barbarian  return,  Salamis  being  left, 

Who  was  wont  to  rage  with  whips,  against  the  north-west  and 
East  wind,  (which  never  suffered  this  in  the  iEolian  prison,) 
Who  bound  Ennosigseus  himself  with  fetters  ? 

That  indeed  was  rather  mild,  that  not  worthy  a  mark  also 
He  thought  him.  Any  of  the  gods  would  be  willing  to  serve 
him. 


165 


176 


175 


the 


17* 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


83 


Sat.  x.] 


]  9 1 


195 


201 


But  what  manner  of  man  returned  he  ?  Truly  with  one  vessel 
in  the  1,1 

Bloody  waves,  and,  with  slow  prow,  thro’  thick  carcasses. 

Glory  so  often  wished  for  exacted  this  punishment. 

Give  length  of  life,  give,  O  Jupiter,  many  years! 

This  with  upright  countenance,  and  this,  pale,  alone  you  wish. 
But  with  what  continual,  and  how  great  evils  is  old  age 
Full!  See  the  countenance  deform’d,  and  hideous  beyond 
every  thing, 

And  unlike  itself,  an  unsightly  hide  instead  of  a  skin : 

And  pendent  cheeks,  and  such  wrinkles, 

As,  where  Tabraca  extends  its  shady  forests, 

A  mother-ape  scratches  in  her  old  cheek, 

The  differences  of  youths  are  very  many,  one  is  handsomer 
than 

This,  and  he  than  another:  this  far  more  robust  than  that: 

The  face  of  old  men  is  one,  the  limbs  trembling  with  the  voice, 
And  now  a  smooth  head,  and  the  infancy  of  a  wet  nose. 

Bread  is  to  be  broken  by  the  wretch  with  an  unarm’d  gum: 

.So  very  burthensome,  to  wife,  and  children,  and  himself, 

That  he  would  move  the  loathing  of  the  flatterer  Cossus. 

The  palate  growing  dull,  the  joys  of  wine  and  food  are  not 
The  same :  a  long  oblivion  of  those  pleasures, 

Which  are  in  vain  invited  to  return, 

Tho’  every  means  be  used  to  restore  them. 

Has  this  important  state  any  thing  to  hope  for? 

What,  but  that  the  desire  be  deservedly  suspected, 

Which,  without  power,  affects  gallantry.  Now  see 
The  loss  of  another  part — for  what  pleasure  (has  he)  when  a 
Harper  (tho’  even  the  best)  or  Seleucus  performs, 

And  those  whose  custom  it  is  to  shine  in  a  golden  habit? 

What  signifies  it  in  what  part  of  a  great  theatre  he  may  sit, 
Who  can  hardly  hear  the  cornets,  and  the  sounding  of  the 
'Trumpets?  There  needs  a  bawling,  that  the  ear  may  perceive 
Who  his  boy  may  say  has  come,  how  many  hours  he  may  bring 
word  of. 

Beside,  the  very  little  blood,  now  in  his  cold  body, 

Is  only  warm  from  fever :  there  leap  around,  form’d  into  a  troop, 
All  kind  of  diseases,  the  names  of  which  were  you  to  ask, 

I  could  sooner  unfold,  how  many  adulterers  Hippia  has  loved, 
How  many  sick  Themison  has  killed  in  one  autumn: 

How  many  of  our  allies  Basilus,  how  many  orphans  Hirrus 
Has  cheated.  How  many  gallants  the  tall  Maura  can 
Dispense  with  in  a  day,  how  many  disciple*  Hamillus  may  de¬ 
file. 


e* 


su 


221 


234 


84 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  x. 


Sooner  run  over  how  many  country-houses  he  may  now  possess, 
Who  clipping  my  beard,  troublesome  to  me  a  youth,  sounded. 
One  is  weak  in  his  shoulder,  another  in  his  loins,  another  in  his 

hiP> 

Another  has  lost  both  his  eyes,  and  envies  the  blind  of  one: 
The  pale  lips  of  this  take  food  from  another's  fingers:  : 

He,  at  the  sight  of  a  supper,  accustomed  to  stretch  open  his 
Jaw,  only  gapes,  likes  the  young  one  of  a  swallow,  to  whom 
The  fasting  dam  flies  with  her  mouth  full.  But,  than  all  the 
loss 

Of  limbs,  that  want  of  understanding  is  greater,  which  neither 
Knows  the  names  of  servants,  nor  the  countenance  of  a  friend, 
With  whom  he  supped  the  night  before,  nor  those  534 

Whom  he  hath  begotten,  whom  brought  up :  for,  by  a  cruel 
tvill 

He  forbids  them  to  be  his  heirs ;  all  his  goods  are  carried 
To  Phiale:  so  much  avails  the  breath  of  an  artful  mouth, 
Which  has  stood  for  many  years  in  the  prison  of  a  brothel. 
Tho’  the  senses  of  the  mind  may  be  strong,  yet  funerals  of 
children 

Are  to  be  attended,  the  pile  to  be  seen  of  a  beloved 
Wife,  and  of  a  brother,  and  urns  fill’d  with  sisters. 

This  pain  is  given  to  long-livers,  so  that,  the  slaughter 
Of  the  family  being  continually  renewed,  in  many  sorrows, 
and  in 

Perpetual  grief,  and  in  a  black  habit,  they  may  grow  old. 

The  Pylian  king  (if  you  at  all  believe  the  great  Homer) 

Was  an  example  of  life  second  from  a  crow : 

Happy,  no  doubt,  who  thro’  so  many  ages  had  deferr’d 
Death,  and  now  computes  his  years  with  the  right  hand, 

And  who  so  often  drank  new  must:  I  pray,  attend 
A  little — How  much  might  he  complain  of  the  laws 
Of  the  fates,  and  of  too  much  thread,  when  he  saw  the  beard  of 
Brave  Antilochus  burning :  he  demands  of  every  friend 
Which  is  present,  why  he  should  last  till  these  times — 

What  crime  he  had  committed  worthy  so  long  life.  ** * 

The  very  same  does  Peleus,  while  he  mourns  Achilles  snatch’d 
away, 

And  another,  to  whom  it  was  permitted  to  lament  the  swimming 
Ithacus. 

Troy  being  safe,  Priam  had  come  to  the  shades 

Of  Assaracus  with  great  solemnities,  Hector  carrying 

The  corpse,  and  the  rest  of  the  shoulders  of  his  brethren, 


24 1 


3J* 


among 


3Go 


The  tears  of  the  Trojans,  as  soon  as  Cassandra  should  begin 


Sat.  x.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


85 


To  utter  the  first  wailings,  and  Polyxena  with  a  rent  garment, 
Had  he  been  extinct  at  another  time,  in  which  Paris 
Had  not  begun  to  build  the  daring  ships. 

What  therefore  did  long  life  advantage  him?  he  saw  all  things 
Overturn’d,  and  Asia  falling  by  fire  and  sword.  206 

Then,  a  trembling  soldier,  the  diadem  being  laid  aside,  he  bore 
arms, 

And  fell  before  the  altar  of  high  Jove,  as  an  old  ox, 

Who,  to  the  master’s  knife,  offers  his  lean  and  miserable 
Neck,  now  despised  by  the  ungrateful  plough. 

Commanded  to  look  at  the  last  period  of  a  long  life. 
Banishment  and  a  prison,  and  the  marshes  of  Minturn», 

I  hasten  to  our  own,  and  pass  by  the  king  of  Pontus, 

And  Croesus,  whom  the  eloquent  voice  of  just  Solon 
However,  that  was  the  exit  of  a  man :  but  his  fierce  wife,  27-' 
Who  outlived  him,  bark’d  with  a  canine  jaw. 

And  bread  begged  in  conquer’d  Carthage, 

Hence  had  their  causes — what,  than  that  citizen,  had 
Nature  on  the  earth,  or  Rome  ever  borne,  more  happy, 

If,  the  troop  of  captives  being  led  around,  and  in  all  *,e 

The  pomp  of  wars,  he  had  breath’d  forth  his  great  soul, 

When  he  would  descend  from  the  Teutonic  chariot? 

Provident  Campania  had  given  Pompey  fevers 
To  be  wished  for;  but  many  cities,  and  public  vows 
Overcame  them:  therefore  his  own  fortune,  and  that  of  the 
city,  28/1 

Took  off  his  preserved  head  from  him  conquer’d:  this  torment, 
This  punishment  Lentulus  was  free  from;  and  Cethegus  fell 
Entire,  and  Catiline  lay  with  his  whole  carcase. 

With  moderate  murmur,  the  anxious  mother  desires  beauty 
Eor  her  boys — with  greater  for  her  girls,  when  she  sees  the 
temple  of  Venus,  *•* 

Even  to  the  delight  of  her  wishes.  Yet,  why,  says  she, 

Should  you  blame  me?  Latona  rejoices  in  fair  Diana. 

But  Lucretia  forbids  a  face  to  be  wished  for,  such 

As  she  had.  Virginia  would  desire  to  accept  the  hump  of  Rutila, 

And  give  her  (shape)  to  Rutila.  But  a  son,  with  a  294 

Remarkable  person,  always  has  miserable  and  trembling 

Parents— So  rare  is  the  agreement  of  beauty 

And  chastity! — Tho’  the  homely  house  chaste  morals  should 

Have  transmitted,  and  imitated  the  old  Sabines. 

Beside,  a  chaste  disposition,  and  a  countenance  glowing  309 

With  modest  blood,  let  bounteous  nature  give  him 
With  a  kind  hand,  (for  what  more  upon  a  boy  can 
Nature,  more  pow’rful  than  a  guardian,  and  than  all  care,  be¬ 
stow  ?) 


86 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  x . 


They  must  not  be  men;  for  the  prodigal  improbity 
Of  a  corrupter  dares  to  tempt  the  parents  themselves:  30* 

So  great  is  confidence  in  bribes.  No  tyrant  ever 
Castrated  a  deform’d  youth  in  his  cruel  palace : 

Nor  did  Nero  ravish  a  noble  youth  club-footed,  or  one 
With  a  wen,  and  swelling  equally  in  his  belly  and  hump. 

Go  now,  and  delight  in  the  beauty  of  your  young  man,  31C 
Whom  greater  dangers  await.  He  will  become  a  public 
Adulterer,  and  will  fear  whatsoever  punishment  an  angry 
Husband  exacts :  nor  will  he  be  happier  than  the  star 
Of  Mars,  that  he  should  never  fall  into  snares:  but  sometimes 
That  pain  exacts  more  than  any  law  to  pain  815 

Has  granted.  One  kills  with  a  sword,  another  cuts  with  bloody 
Scourges,  and  some  adulterers  the  mullet  enters. 

But  your  Endymion  will  become  the  adulterer  of  some  beloved 
Matron :  presently  when  Servilia  shall  give  him  money, 

He  will  become  hers  too  whom  he  loves  not:  she  will  put  off 
Every  ornament,  of  her  body:  for  what  will  any  woman  deny  to 
Those  she  likes,  whether  she  be  Hippia  or  Catulla? 

There  a  bad  woman  has  her  whole  manners. 

But  how  does  beauty  hurt  the  chaste?  what,  once  on  a  time, 


did 


A  solemn  resolution  benefit  Hippolytus?  what  Bellerophon? 
Truly  this  redden’d  as  if  scorned  by  a  repulse: 

Nor  was  Sihenobcea  less  on  fire  than  the  Cretan,  and  both 
Vexed  themselves.  A  woman  is  then  most  cruel 
When  shame  adds  goads  to  hatred.  Choose  what  3241 

You  think  to  be  advised,  to  him  whom  Cresar’s  wife  destines 
To  marry:  this  the  best  and  most  beautiful  too 
Of  a  patrician  family  is  hurried,  a  wretch,  to  be  destroy’d 
By  the  eyes  of  Messalina :  long  she  sits  in  her  prepared 
Bridal  veil,  and  openly  the  Tyrian  marriage-bed  is  strowed 
In  the  gardens,  and  ten  times  an  hundred  will  be  given  by  an¬ 
cient  .  135 

Rite :  the  soothsayer,  with  the  signers,  will  come. 

Do  you  think  these  things  secret,  and  committed  to  a  few  ? 

She  will  not  marry  unless  lawfully.  Say — what  like  you? — 
Unless  you  will  obey,  you  must  perish  before  candle-light. 

If  you  commit  the  crime,  a  little  delay  will  be  given,  till  the 
thing,  30 

Known  to  the  city  and  to  the  people,  reaches  the  prince’s  ears, 
(He  will  last  know  the  disgrace  of  his  house.)  In  the  mean 
while 

Do  thou  obey  the  command,  if  the  life  of  a  few  days  is 
Of  such  consequence ;  whatever  you  may  think  best  and  easiest, 


Sat.  x.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


8? 


This  fair  and  white  neck  is  to  be  yielded  to  the  sword.  345 
Shall  men  therefore  wish  for  nothing?  If  yon  will  have  ad¬ 
vice, 

Permit  the  gods  thhmselves  to  consider  what 
May  suit  us,  and  be  useful  to  our  affairs. 

•  For  instead  of  pleasant  things,  the  gods  will  give  whatever  are 
fittest. 

Man  is  dearer  to  them,  than  to  himself  :  we,  led  by  the  3i0 
Impulse  of  our  minds,  and  by  a  blind,  and  great  desire, 

Ask  wedlock,  and  the  bringing  forth  of  our  wife :  but  to  them 
Is  known,  what  children,  and  what  sort  of  a  wife  she  may  be. 
However,  that  you  may  ask  something,  and  vow  in  chapels 
Entrails,  and  the  divine  puddings  of  a  whitish  swine,  355 

You  MUST  PRAY,  THAT  YOU  MAY  HAVE  A  SOUND  MIND  IN  A  SOUND 
BODY. 

Ask  a  mind,  strong,  and  without  the  fear  of  death ; 

Which  puts  the  last  stage  of  life  among  the  gifts  of 
Nature ;  which  can  bear  any  troubles  whatsoever; 

Knows  not  to  be  angry;  covets  nothing;  and  which  thinks  360 
The  toils  of  Hercules,  and  his  cruel  labours,  better 
Thai*  the  lasciviousness,  and  luxury,  and  plumes  of  Sardana- 
palus, 

I  shew  what  yourself  may  give  to  yourself:  Surely  the  only 
Path  to  a  quiet  life  lies  open  through  virtue.  304 

You  have  no  deity,  O  Fortune,  if  there  be  prudence  ;  but 
Thee  we  make  a  goddess,  and  place  in  heaven. 


SATIIIE  XI. 


ARGUMENT. 

The  poet  takes  occasion,  from  an  invitation  which  he  gives  to  his  friend 
Persicus  to  dine  with  him,  to  commend  frugality,  and  to  expose  and 
reprehend  all  manner  of  intemperance  and  debauchery  ;  but  more  par¬ 
ticularly  the  luxury  used  by  the  Romans  in  their  feasting.  He  instances 
some  lewd  practices  at  their  feasts,  and  reproves  the  nobility  for  making 
lewdness  and  debauchery  the  chiefest  of  their  pleasures.  He  opposes 
the  temperance  and  frugality  of  the  greatest  men  in  former  ages,  to  the 
riot  and  intemperance  of  the  present.  He  concludes  w.th  repeating  hin 
invitation  to  his  friend,  advising  him  to  a  neglect  of  all  care  and  disquiet 
for  the  present,  and  a  moderate  use  of  pleasures  for  the  future. 


If  Atticus  sups  sumptuously,  he  is  accounted  splendid; 

If  Rutilus,  mad :  for  what  is  received  with  a  greater 
Laugh  of  the  vulgar,  than  poor  Apicius?  every 
Company,  the  baths,  the  stations,  every  theatre,  [talk] 

Of  Rutilus.  For  while  Jiis  strong  and  youthful  limbs  4 

Suffice  for  a  helmet,  and  while  ardent  in  blood,  he  is  reported 
(The  tribune  not  compelling  indeed,  but  neither  prohibiting) 

To  be  about  to  write  the  laws,  and  princely  words  of  a  fencer. 
Moreover,  you  see  many,  whom  the  often-eluded  creditor  is 
wont 

To  wait  for  at  the  very  entrance  of  the  shambles,  10 

And  to  whom  the  purpose  of  living  is  in  the  palate  alone. 

The  most  wretched  of  these,  and  now  soon  to  fall,  (his 
Ruin  already  being  clear,)  sups  the  more  elegantly,  and  the 
better. 

Meantime,  they  seek  a  relish  thro’  all  the  elements, 

The  prices  never  opposing  their  inclination :  if  you  attend  14 
More  intimately,  those  things  please  more,  which  are  bought 

FOR  MORE. 

Therefore  it  is  not  difficult  to  procure  a  sum  that  will  be  wasted, 
Dishes  being  pawned,  or  a  broken  image  of  their  mother, 

And,  for  four  hundred  sesterces,  to  season  a  relishing 
Earthen  dish:  thus  they  come  to  the  diet  of  a  prize-fighter.  ** 
It  importeth,  therefore,  who  may  prepare  these  same  things' — 
for,  in  Rutilus, 

It  is  luxury;  in  Yentidius  a  laudable  name 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


v  89 


Sat.  xi.] 

It  takes,  and  derives  its  fame  from  his  income.  1  should,  by 
nght, 

Despise  him,  who  knows  how  much  higher  Allas  is 

Thau  ail  the  mountains  in  Libya,  yet  this  same  person  2f 

Be  ignorant,  how  much  a  little  bag  differs  from  an 

Iron  chest:  know  thyself — descended  from  heaven, 

To  be  fixed,  and  revolved  in  the  mindful  breast,  whether 
You  may  seek  wedlock,  or  would  be  in  a  part  of 
The  sacred  senate.  For  Thersites  does  not  demand  the 
Breast-plate  of  Achilles,  in  which  Ulysses  exposed  himself 
Doubtful.  Or  whether  you  may  affect  to  defend  a  cause  in  great 
Difficulty:  consult  thyself,  tell  tjpyself  who  thou  art, 

A  vehement  orator,  or  Curtins,  or  Matho  The  measure  of 
Your  abilities  is  to  be  known,  and  regarded  in  the  greatest,  3* 
And  in  the  least  affairs;  even  when  a  fish  shall  be  bought: 

Nor  should  you  desire  a  mullet  when  you  have  only  a  gudgeon 
In  your  purse:  for  what  end  awaits  thee,  your  purse  failing, 
Your  gluttony  increasing:  your  paternal  fortune, 

And  substance,  sunk  in  your  belly,  capable  of  containing 
Interest  and  principal,  and  fields  and  Hocks? 

From  such  masters,  after  all,  last  goes  forth 
The  ring,  and  Pollio  begs  with  a  naked  finger. 

Ashes  are  not  premature,  nor  is  a  funeral  bitter 

To  luxury,  but  old  age  more  to  be  feared  than  death.  43 

These  are  oftlimes  the  steps:  money  is  borrowed  at  Home, 

And  consumed  before  the  owners:  then,  when  a  little, 

I  don’t  know  what,  is  left,  and  the  usurer  is  pale, 

Those  who  have  changed  the  soil,  run  to  Baiae,  and  to  Ostia. 
For,  to  depart  from  the  forum,  is  nol  worse  to  you,  than  " 
To  migrate  to  Esqniliae  from  the  hot  Suburra. 

That  is  the  only  grief  to  those  who  fly  their  country,  that 
The  sorrow,  to  have  been  deprived  of  the  Circensian  games  for 
*  one  year. 

Not  a  drop  of  blood  sticks  in  the  face,  few  detain 
Modesty,  ridiculous  and  flying  out  of  the  city.  3* 

You  shall  this  day  experience,  whether  things  most  fair 
In  word,  Persic  us,  I  cannot  practise,  neither  in  my  life,  nor  in 
my  morals,  and  in  deed  ; 

But,  a  secret  glutton,  1  can  praise  pulse,  order  water-gruel 
To  the  servant  before  others,  but,  in  his  ear,  cakes. 

For,  since  you  are  a  promised  guest  to  me,  you  shall  have  60 
Evaudcr,  you  shall  come  Tiryuthius,  or  a  guest  less 
Thau  he,  and  yet  be  akin  to  heaven  in  blood, 

The  one  sent  to  the  stars  by  water,  the  other  by  flames. 

Now  hear  of  dishes  furnished  from  no  shambles: 


90 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES 


[Sat.  xi. 


65 


75 


80 


85 


There  shall  come,  from  my  Tiburtine  farm,  the  fattest 
Young  kid,  and  more  tender  than  all  the  Hock,  ignorant  of  grass, 
Nor  yet  daring  to  bite  the  twig  of  the  low  willow: 

Which  has  more  of  milk  than  blood.  And  mountain 
Asparaguses,  which  my  bailiff’s  wife  gather’d,  laying  her  spin¬ 
dle  aside. 

Great  eggs  besides,  warm  in  the  twisted  hay, 

Are  added,  with  the  mothers  themselves;  and,  kept  for  a 
Part  of  the  year,  grapes,  such  as  they  were  upon  the  vines : 

The  Signian  and  Syrian  pear:  from  the  same  baskets 
Apples,  rivals  to  the  Picene,  and  of  a  recent  odour, 

Nor  to  be  feared  by  you,  after  they  have  laid  aside 
The  autumn,  dried  by  cold,  and  the  dangers  of  a  crude  juice. 
This,  a  long  time  ago,  was  the  luxurious  supper  of  the 
Senate:  Gurius  put  small  herbs,  which  he  had  gather’d  in  his 
Little  garden,  over  his  small  fire:  which  now 
A  dirty  digger,  in  a  large  fetter,  despises, 

Who  remembers  how  the  sow’s  womb  of  a  cook’s  hot  shop  can 
relish. 

The  back  of  a  dry  swine,  hanging  on  a  wide  rack, 

It  was  the  custom  formerly  to  keep  for  festal  days, 

And  to  set  bacon,  a  birth  day  feast,  before  relations, 

Fresh  meat  acceding,  if  the  sacrifice  afforded  any. 

Some  one  of  the  kindred,  with  the  title  of  thrice  consul,  and 
Who  the  commands  of  camps,  and  the  honour  of  dictator 
Had  discharged,  went  to  thes?  feasts  sooner  than  usual, 
Bringing  back  his  erect  spade  from  a  subdued  mountain. 

But  when  they  trembled  at  the  Fabii,  and  severe  Cato, 

And  the  Scauri,  and  Fabricii,  and  the  severe  manners 
Of  a  rigid  censor,  even  his  colleague  feared; 

Nobody  esteemed  it  to  be  reckon’d  among  his  cares,  and  serious 
concerns, 

What  sort  of  tortoise  might  swim  in  the  waves  of  the  sea, 

About  to  make  a  famous  and  noble  couch  for  the  Trojugensc: 
But  with  a  naked  side,  and  on  small  beds,  a  brazen  front 
Shewed  the  vile  head  of  an  ass  wearing  a  garland, 

At  which  the  wanton  boys  of  the  country  made  a  jest. 
Therefore  such  was  their  food,  as  was  their  house,. and  the  fur 
niture ; 

Then  rude,  and  unknowing  to  admire  the  Grecian  arts, 

Cities  being  overturned,  in  a  found  part  of  the  spoils, 

The  soldier  brake  the  cups  of  great  artificers, 

That  his  horse  might  rejoice  in  l tappings,  and  that  the  embossed 
helm  t 

L  I  enesses  of  the  Romulean  wild-beasts,  commanded  to  grow 
tame 


00** 


00 


iOO 


104 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


91 


Sat.  xi.] 


119 


Ilf 


120 


By  the  fate  of  the  empire,  and  under  a  rock  the  twin  Quirini, 
And  a  naked  image  of  the  god  (shining  with  shield  and 
Spear,  and  impending)  might  shew  to  the  foe  about  to  perish. 
What  was  of  silver,  shone  in  arms  alone. 

Therefore,  they  then  put  all  their  food  of  corn  in  a  Tuscan 
Dish;  which  you  would  envy,  were  you  a  little  envious. 

The  majesty  of  the  temples  was  also  more  present,  and  a  voice 
Almost  in  the  midst  of  the  night,  and  heard  thro’  the  midst  of 
the  city, 

The  Gauls  coming  from  the  shore  of  the  ocean,  and  the  gods, 
Performing  the  office  of  a  prophet,  warned  us  by  these. 

This  care  Jupiter  was  wont  to  afford  the  Latian 
Affairs,  fictile,  and  polluted  by  no  gold. 

Those  times  home-born  tables,  and  out  of  our  own  tree,  those 
Times  saw  :  the  wood  stood  for  these  uses, 

If  haply  the  east-wind  had  thrown  down  an  old  nut-tree. 

But  now  there  is  no  pleasure  of  supping,  to  the  rich 
The  turbot,  the  venison  is  tasteless,  the  ointments 
Seeln  to  stink,  and  the  roses;  unless  the  wide  orbs  large 
Ivory  sustains,  and  a  lofty  leopard,  with  a  great  gape, 

Out  of  those  teeth,  which  the  gate  of  Syene  sends, 

And  the  swift  Moors,  and  the  Indian  darker  than  the  Moors, 
And  which  a  beast  has  deposited  in  a  Nabathaian  forest, 

Now  too  much  and  too  heavy  for  his  head :  hence  arises  appe¬ 
tite, 

Hence  strength  to  the  stomach :  for  a  silver  foot  to  them, 

Is  what  an  iron  ring  would  be  upon  the  finger.  Therefore  the 
proud 

Guest  I  am  aware  of,  who  compares  me  to  himself,  and  de¬ 
spises  ' 

My  little  affairs;  insomuch  that  I  have  not  an  ounce  of  ivory, 
Nor  are  my  squares,  nor  a  chess-man  of  this 
Material :  nay  the  very  handles  of  my  knives 
Are  of  bone  :  yet  by  these  no  victuals  ever  become 
Rank ;  or  is,  therefore,  a  hen  cut  the  worse. 

Nor  shall  there  be  a  carver,  to  whom  every  school  ought 
To  yield,  a  disciple  or  doctor  Trypherus,  at  whose  house 
An  hare  with  a  large  sumen,  and  a  boar,  and  a  pygarg, 

And  Scyihian  birds,  and  a  huge  Phcenicopter, 

And  a  Gmtulian  goat,  most  delicious  things,  with  a  blunt  iron 
Are  cut,  and  the  feast  made  of  elm  sounds  thro’  all  ihe  Suburra 
Neither  lo  take  off  a  piece  of  a  roe,  nor  the  side  of  an  African 
Bird,  does  my  little  novice  know,  and  always  rude, 

And  accustomed  to  the  broken  pieces  of  a  little  steak. 

Plebeian  cups,  and  bought  for  a  few  pence, 


123 


ISO 


1SJ> 


u» 


92 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.,  xi- 


150 


iet 


ap- 


169 


The  homely  boy,  and  safe  from  cold,  shall  reach  forth. 

There  shall  not  be  Phrygian  or  Lycian,  nor  any  bought  from- 
A  slave-merchant,  and  costly:  when  you  ask,  ask  in  Latin. 

The  same  habit  is  to  all,  the  hair  cropp’d  and  straight, 

And  to-day  comb’d  only  on  account  of  our  feast. 

One  is  the  son  of  an  hardy  shepherd,  the  other  of  an  herdsman; 
He  sighs  after  his  mother,  not  seen  for  a  long  time, 

And  sad  longs  for  the  little  cottage,  and  the  known  kids. 

A  lad  of  an  ingenuous  countenance,  and  of  ingenuous  mcdestyy 
Such  as  it  becomes  those  to  be,  whom  glowing  purple  clothes. 
Nor,  hoarse,  does  he  expose  himself,  1S* 

With  indecency,  when  naked  in  the  baths, 

Nor,  fearful,  practise  means  to  hide  his  nakedness. 

He  shall  give  you  wine  made  in  those  mountains 
From  whence  himself  comes,  under  the  top  of  which  he  played : 
For  the  country  of  my  wine,  and  of  my  servant,  are  one  and 
the  same. 

Perhaps  you  may  expect,  that  a  Gaditanian,  with  a  tuneful 
Company,  may  begin  to  wanton,  and  girls  approved  with 
plause 

Lower  themselves  to  the  ground  in  a  lascivious  manner. 
Married  women  behold  this,  their  husbands  lying  by, 

Which  it  may  shame  any  one  to  have  related,  they  being  pre 
sent; 

A  provocative  of  languishing  desire,  and  sharp  incentives 
Of  a  rich  man:  yet  that  is  a  greater  pleasure 
Of  the  other  sex,  it  is  most  atlected  by  it,  and  soon 
The  eyes  and  ears  are  contaminated  to  a  great  degree. 

An  humble  house  does  not  contain  these  follies  :  let  him  hear 
The  noise  of  shells,  with  words,  from  which  a  naked  slave 
Standing  in  a  stinking  brothel  abstains;  let  him  enjoy 
Obscene  expressions,  and  all  the  art  of  lewdness, 

Who  lubricates  the  Lacedaemonian  orb  with  spirting  wine, 

For  there  we  give  allowance  to  fortune.  The  die  is  base, 
Adultery  is  base  in  middling  people:  yet  when  they  do 
All  these  things,  they  are  called  joyous  and  polite. 

Our  feast  to-day  will  give  us  other  sports: 

The  author  of  the  Iliad  shall  be  repeated,  and  of  lofty  Maro 
The  verses  making  a  doubtful  palm. 

What  does  it  signify  with  what  voice  such  verses  may  be  read? 
But  now  leave  off  business,  your  cares  deferr’d, 

And  give  yourself  grateful  rest,  since  you  may 
Be  idle  throughout  the  whole  day:  of  interest-money  18# 

No  mention ;  nor,  if  gone  forth  at  day-break,  she  is  wont 
To  be  returned  at  night,  let  your  wife  provoke  you,  silent,  to 
anger, 


170 


174 


1S1 


Sat.  xi.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


93 


Bringing  back  her  fine  garments  with  suspected  wrinkles, 

Her  hair  disorder'd  and  her  countenance  and  ears  glowing, 
Immediately  put  off  before  my  threshold  whatever  grieves: 

Lay  aside  home,  and  servants,  and  whatever  is  broken  by  them, 
Or  is  lost :  Before  all,  put  away  ungrateful  friends. 
Meantime,  the  spectacles  of  the  Megalesian  towel 
Grace  the  Idsean  solemnity,  and,  like  as  in  triumph, 

The  praetor,  a  destroyer  of  horses,  sits:  and  (if  with  the  peace  m 
Of  such  an  immense  and  superabundant  crowd  I  might  say  it) 
This  day  the  circus  contains  all  Rome,  and  a  noise  strikes 
My  ear,  from  whence  I  gather  the  event  of  the  green  cloth. 

For  if  it  should  fail,  sad  and  amazed  would  you  see 
This  city,  as  when  the  consuls  were  conquered  in  the  dust  20* 
Of  Cannae.  Let  youths  behold,  whom  clamour,  and  a  bold 
Wager  becomes,  and  to  sit  by  a  neat  girl. 

Let  our  contracted  skin  drink  the  vernal  sun, 

And  avoid  the  gown:  even  now  to  the  baths,  with  a  safe 
Countenance  you  may  go,  tho’  a  whole  hour  should  remain  2M 
To  the  sixth.  You  could  not  do  this  for  five  days 
Successively:  for  the  fatigues’  of  such  a  life  also 
Are  great:  rarer  use  commends  pleasures. 


\ 


SATIRE  XII. 


ARGUMENT. 

The  Poet  having  invited  Corvinus  to  assist  at  a  sacrifice,  which  he  intended 
to  offer  up  by  way  of  thanksgiving  for  the  safety  of  his  friend  Catullus 
from  the  danger  of  the  seas,  professes  his  disinterestedness  on  the  occa¬ 
sion,  and,  from  thence,  takes  an  opportunity  to  lash  the  Hseridepetse,  or 
Legacy -hunters,  who  flattered  and  paid  their  court  to  rich  men,  in  hopes 
of  becoming  their  heirs. 

This  day,  Corvinus,  is  sweeter  to  me  than  my  birth-day, 

In  which  the  festal  turf  expects  the  animals  promised 
To  the  gods :  we  kill  to  the  queen  a  snowy  lamb : 

An  equal  fleece  is  given  to  Minerva. 

But  the  petulant  victim  shakes  his  long  extended  rope,  s 

Kept  for  Tarpeian  Jove,  and  brandishes  his  forehead : 

For  it  is  a  stout  calf,  ripe  for  the  temples  and  altar, 

And  to  be  sprinkled  with  wine ;  which  is  now  ashamed  to  draw 
Its  mother’s  dugs,  and  teazesthe  oaks  with  its  budding  horn. 

If  my  fortune  had  been  ample,  and  like  my  affection,  10 

A  bull,  fatter  than  Hispulla,  should  be  drawn,  and  with  its  very 
Bulk  slow,  nor  nourish’d  in  a  neighbouring  pasture, 

But  his  blood  shewing  the  glad  pastures  of  Clitumnus, 

Should  go,  and  his  neck  to  be  stricken  by  a  great  minister, 

On  account  of  the  return  of  my  yet  trembling  friend,  lately 

having  11 

Suffer’d  dreadful  things,  and  wondering  that  he  is  safe. 

For,  beside  the  hazard  of  the  sea,  and  the  stroke  of  lightning 

Escaped,  thick  darkness  hid  the  sky 

In  one  cloud,  and  a  sudden  fire  struck  the  sail-yards ; 

When  every  one  might  believe  himself  struck  with  it,  and  pre¬ 
sently,  20 

Astonish’d,  might  think  that  no  shipwreck  could  be 
Compared  with  the  burning  sails.  All  things  become 
Such,  as  grievously,  if  at  any  time  a  poetic  tempest 
Arises.  Behold  another  kind  of  danger,  hear, 

And  again  pity,  tho’  the  rest  be  of  the  same  u 

Kind :  a  dire  portion  indeed,  but  known  to  many, 

And  which  many  temples  testify,  with  a  votive 
Tablet — who  knows  not  that  painters  are  fed  by  Isi3  ? 


Sat.  xii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


95 


The  like  fortune  also  happen’d  to  my  Catullus; 

When  the  middle  hold  was  full  of  water,  and  now 
The  waves  overturning  the  alternate  side  of  the  ship 
Of  uncertain  wood,  the  prudence  of  the  grey  master 
Could  confer  no  help:  he  began  to  compound 
With  the  winds  by  throwing  overboard,  imitating  the  beaver, 
who 

Makes  himself  an  eunuch,  desiring  to  escape  with  the  loss  3f 
Of  his  testicles :  thus  medicated  does  he  understand  his  groin. 
Throw  out  all  things  which  are  mine,  says  Catullus, 

Willing  to  throw  over  even  the  most  beautiful  things,  a  garment. 
Of  purple,  fit  also  for  tender  Maecenases: 

And  others,  the  very  sheep  of  which  the  nature  of  40 

The  generous  herbage  dyed,  but  also  a  remarkable  fount 
With  hidden  powers,  and  Baetic  air  helps. 

Nor  did  he  hesitate  to  throw  away  his  plate;  dishes 
Made  by  Parthenius,  a  cup  holding  an  urn, 

And  worthy  Pholus  thirsting,  or  the  wife  of  Fuscus.  41 

Add  also  baskets,  and  a  thousand  dishes,  a  great  deal 
Of  wrought-work,  in  which  the  cunning  buyer  of  Olynthus  had 
drunk. 

But  who  now  is  the  other,  in  what  part  of  the  world,  who  dares 
Prefer  his  life  to  his  plate,  his  safety  to  his  goods? 

Some  do  not  make  fortunes  on  account  of  life,  50 

But,  blind  with  vice,  live  for  the  sake  of  fortunes. 

The  greatest  part  of  useful  goods  is  thrown  over,  but 
Neither  do  the  losses  lighten.  Then,  the  contrary  (winds)  urging, 
It  came  to  that  pass  that  he  should  lower  the  mast  with  an  axe, 
And  free  himself  distressed:  the  last  state  of  danger  is,  ef 
When  we  apply  helps  to  make  the  ship  less. 

Co  now  and  commit  your  life  to  the  winds,  trusting  to 
A  hewn  plank,  removed  from  death  four 
Fingers,  or  seven,  if  the  pine  be  very  large. 

Immediately  with  your  provision-baskets,  and  bread,  and  belly 
of  a  flagon,  tt® 

Remember  axes  to  be  used  in  a  storm. 

But  after  the  sea  lay  smooth,  after  the  circumstances  of  the 
Mariner  were  favourable,  and  his  fate  more  powerful  than  the 
east  wind, 

And  the  sea ;  after  the  cheerful  destinies  draw  better 
Tasks  with  a  benign  hand,  and  of  a  white  thread 
Are  spinsters,  nor  much  stronger  than  a  moderate  air 
Is  there  a  wind  the  miserable  prow  ran  with  a  poor  device, 
With  extended  garments,  and,  which  alone  was  left, 

With  its  own  sail:  the  south  winds  now  failing. 


96 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xi?.- 


The  hope  of  life  return’d  with  the  sun :  then  acceptable  to 
lulus,  701 

And  an  abode  preferr’d  to  the  Lavinum  of  his  step-mother, 

The  sublime  top  is  beheld,  to  which  the  name  a  white 
Sow  gave  (a  wonderful  udder  to  the  glad  Phrygians) 

And  famous  for  thirty  dugs  never  [before]  seen. 

At  length  she  enters  the  placed  moles,  thro’  the  included  waters,. 

And  the  Tyrrhene  Pharos,  and  again  the  stretched-out  arms 

Which  meet  the  middle  sea,  and  tar  leave 

Italy :  therefore  you  will  not  so  admire  the  havens 

Which  nature  has  given :  but  the  master,  with  mangled  ship, 

Seeks  the  interior  pools  of  the  safe  bay,  pervious  to  m 

A  Baian  boat :  there,  with  a  shaved  head,  secure, 

The  sailors  rejoice  to  relate  iheir  chattering  dangers. 

Go  then,  boys,  favouring  with  tongues  and  minds, 

Put  garlands  on  the  temples,  and  meal  on  the  knives, 

And  adorn  the  soft  hearths,  and  the  green  glebe.  85 

I’ll  soon  follow,  and  the  sacred  business,  which  is  best,  being 
duly  finish’d, 

I  will  then  return  home;  where,  little  images,  shining 
With  brittle  wax,  shall  receive  slender  crowns. 

Here  I  will  placate  our  Jupiter,  and  to  my  paternal  Lares 
Will  give  frankincense,  and  will  throw  down  all  the  colours  of 
the  violet.  00 

All  things  shine.  My  gate  has  erected  long  branches, 

And  joyful  celebrates  the  feast  with  morning  lamps. 

Nor  let  these  things  be  suspected  by  you,  Corvinus:  Catullus, 
For  whose  return  I  place  so  many  altars,  has  three 
Little  heirs :  I  should  be  glad  to  see  who  would  bestow  9S 
A  hen,  sick  and  closing  her  eyes,  on  a  friend 
So  barren  :  but  this  is  an  expence  too  great.  No  quail 
Will  ever  fall  for  a  father.  If  rich  Gallita  and  Paecius, 

Who  are  childless,  begin  to  perceive  heat,  every  porch 
Is  clothed  with  tablets  fixed  according  to  law.  100 

There  exist  who  would  promise  an  hecatomb. 

Forasmuch  as  there  are  no  elephants  to  be  sold,  neither  here 
Nor  in  Latium;  nor  any  where  in  our  climate  is  such 
A  beast  conceived,  but,  fetched  from  a  dusky  nation, 

Is  fed  in  the  Rutulian  woods,  and  in  the  field  of  Turnus,  105 
The  herd  of  Csesar,  procured  to  serve  no  private 
Man :  the  ances'ors  of  these,  indeed,  used  to  obey  Tyrian 
Hannibal,  and  our  generals,  and  the  Molossian  king, 

And  to  carry  cohorts  on  their  back, 

Some  part  of  the  war,  and  a  tower  going  to  battles.  n* 

Therefore  there  is  no  delay  by  Novius,  no  delay  by 


Sat.  xii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


97 


\ 


Ister  Pacuvius,  but  that  that  Ivory  should  be  led  to  the  altars, 
And  fall  a  sacred  victim  before  the  Lares  of  Gallita, 

Worthy  of  deities  so  great,  and  of  the  flatterers  of  these  men. 
For  the  one,  if  you  allow  him  to  slay,  will  vow  115 

From  his  flock  of  servants,  the  great,  or  all  the  most  beautiful 
Bodies ;  or  on  his  boys,  and  on  the  foreheads  of  his  maids 
Would  put  fillets:  and  if  he  has  any  marriageable 
Iphigenia  at  home,  he  will  give  her  to  the  altars,  although 
He  may  not  expect  the  furtive  expiation  of  the  tragic  hind. 

I  praise  my  citizen,  nor  do  I  compare  with  a  last  will  iai 

A  thousand  ships:  for  if  the  sick  man  should  escape  Libitina, 
He’ll  cancel  his  will,  inclosed  in  the  prison  of  a  net, 

After  desert  truly  wonderful:  and  everything,  perhaps, 

Will  give  shortly  to  Pacuvius  alone.  He  proud  will  125 

Strut,  his  rivals  overcome.  Therefore  you  see,  how 
Great  a  reward  of  service  she  slaughter’d  at  Mycenre  may  pro¬ 
cure. 

Let  Pacuvius  live,  I  beg,  even  all  Nester. 

May  he  possess  as  much  as  Nero  plunder’d — may  gold  equal 
Mountains;  nor  let  him  love  any  body,  nor  be  loved  by  any 
body.  130 


SATIRE  XIII. 


ARGUMENT. 


The  Poet  writes  this  Satire  to  Calvinus,  to  comfort  him  under  the  loss  of  a 
large  sum  of  money,  with  which  he  had  entrusted  one  of  his  friends,  and 
which  he  could  not  get  again.  Hence  Juvenal  takes  occasion  to  speak  of 
the  villainy  of  the  times — shews  that  nothing  can  happen  but  by  the  per¬ 
mission  of  Providence — and  that  wicked  men  carry  their  own  punishment 
about  with  them. 


Whatever  is  committed  with  bad  example,  displeases  even 
The  author  of  it.  This  is  the  first  revenge,  that,  himself 
Being  judge,  no  guilty  person  is  absolved  :  altho’  the  wicked 
Favour  of  the  deceitful  praetor  should  have  overcome  the  urn. 
What  do  you  suppose  all  to  think,  Calvinus,  of  the  retent  1 
Wickedness,  and  crime  of  violated  faith?  But  neither 
Has  so  small  an  income  come  to  your  share,  that  the  burden 
Of  a  moderate  loss  should  sink  you :  nor  do  we  see  rare 
Those  things  which  you  suffer.  This  misfortune  is  known  to 
many,  and  now 

Trite,  and  drawn  from  the  midst  of  Fortune’s  heap  10 

Let  us  lay  aside  too  many  sighs.  More  violent  than  what  is 
just, 

The  grief  of  a  man  ought  not  to  be,  nor  greater  than  his  wound. 
Tho’  you  can  hardly  bear  the  least,  and  small  particle 
Of  light  misfortunes,  burning  with  fretting 
Bowels,  because  your  friend  may  not  return  to  you  a  sacred  ls 
Deposit.  Does  he  wonder  at  these  things,  who  already  has  left 
behind 

His  back  sixty  years,  born  when  Fonteius  was  consul? 

Do  you  profit  nothing  for  the  better  by  the  experience  of  so 
many  things  ? 

Wisdom,  indeed,  which  gives  precepts  in  the  sacred  books, 

Is  the  great  conqueror  of  Fortune.  But  we  call  29 

Those  also  happy,  who,  to  bear  the  inconveniences  of  life, 

Nor  to  toss  the  yoke  have  learnt,  life  being  their  mistress. 

What  day  so  solemn,  that  it  can  cease  to  disclose  a  thief, 
Perfidy,  frauds,  and  gain  sought  from  every  crime, 

And  money  gotten  by  the  sword,  or  by  poison  ?  2i 

For  good  men  are  scarce  :  they  are  hardly  as  many  in  number 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


99 


Sat.  xiii.] 

As  the  gates  of  Thebes,  or  the  mouths  of  the  rich  Nile. 

An  age  is  now  passing,  and  worse  ages  than  the  times  of 
Iron,  for  the  wickedness  of  which,  nature  itself  has  not 
Found  a  name,  nor  imposed  it  from  any  metal.  3fJ 

We  invoke  the  faith  of  gods  and  men  without  clamour, 

With  as  much  as  the  vocal  sportula  praises  Fmsidius 
Pleading.  Say,  old  man,  worthy  the  bulla,  know  you  not 
What  charms  the  money  of  another  has?  know  you  not  34 
What  a  laugh  your  simplicity  may  stir  up  in  the  vulgar,  when 
You  require  from  any  not  to  forswear,  and  that  he  should  think, 
that  to  any 

Temples  there  is  some  deity,  and  to  the  reddening  altar? 

Formerly  our  natives  lived  in  this  manner,  before 

Saturn,  flying,  took  the  rustic  sickle,  his  diadem 

Laid  down:  then,  when  Juno  was  a  little  girl,  48 

And  Jupiter  as  yet  private  in  the  Idsean  caves. 

No  feasts  of  the  gods  above  the  clouds, 

Nor  Iliacan  boy,  nor  handsome  wife  of  Hercules. 

At  the  cups;  and  now  the  nectar  being  drunk  up,  Vulcan 
Wiping  his  arms  black  with  the  Liparsean  shop.  45 

Every  god  dined  by  himself,  nor  was  the  crowd  of  gods 
Such,  (as  it  is  at  this  day,)  and  the  stars  content  with  a  few 
Deities,  urged  miserable  Atlas  with  a  less 
Weight.  Nobody  as  yet  shared  the  sad  empire 
Of  the  deep,  or  fierce  Pluto  with  his  Sicilian  wife.  38 

Nor  a  wheel,  nor  furies,  nor  a  stone,  or  the  punishment  of  the 
black 

Vulture:  but  the  shades  happy  without  infernal  kings. 
Improbity  was  in  that  age  to  be  wonder’d  at. 

They  believed  this  a  great  crime,  and  to  be  punish’d  by  death. 
If  a  youth  had  not  risen  up  to  an  old  man,  and  if  i5 

A  boy  to  any  who  had  a  beard :  tho’  he  might  see 
At  home  more  strawberries,  and  greater  heaps  of  acorn. 

So  venerable  was  it  to  precede  by  four  years, 

And  the  first  down  was  so  equal  to  sacred  old  age. 

Now,  if  a  friend  should  not  deny  a  deposit,  60 

If  he  should  restore  an  old  purse  with  all  the  rust; 

Prodigious  faithfulness!  and  worthy  the  Tuscan  books! 

And  which  ought  to  be  expiated  by  a  crowned  she-lamb. 

If  I  perceive  an  excellent  and  upright  man,  I  compare 
This  monster  to  a  boy  of  two  parts,  or  to  wonderful  fishes  6i 
Found  under  a  plough,  or  to  a  mule  with  foal. 

Anxious  as  if  a  shower  had  pour’d  forth  stones, 

And  a  swarm  of  bees  had  settled,  in  a  long  bunch, 

On  the  top  of  a  temple,  as  if  a  river  had  flow’d  into  the  sea 


100 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xiii. 


With  wond’rous  gulfs,  and  rushing  with  a  whirlpool  of  milk.  70 
Do  you  complain  that  ten  sestertiums  are  intercepted  by 
Impious  fraud?  what  if  another  has  lost  two  hundred  secret 
Sestertiums  in  this  manner?  a  third  a  larger  sum  than  that, 
Which  the  corner  of  his  wide  chest  had  scarce  received  ? 

So  easy  and  ready  it  is,  to  contemn  the  gods  who  are  wit¬ 
nesses,  '  75 

If  that  same  thing  no  mortal  can  know.  Behold,  with  how 
great 

A  voice  he  denies  it,  what  steadiness  there  is  of  feigned,  coun¬ 
tenance. 

By  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  the  Tarpeian  thunderbolts  he  swears ; 
And  the  javelin  of  Mars,  and  the  darts  of  the  Cyrrhtean  prophet; 
By  the  shafts,  and  the  quiver  of  the  virgin-huntress,  80 

And  by  thy  trident,  O  Neptune,  father  of  iEgeiis: 

He  adds  also  the  Herculean  bows,  and  the  spear  of  Minerva, 
Whatever  the  armories  of  heaven  have  of  weapons: 

And  truly  if  he  be  a  father,  I  would  eat.  says  he,  a  doleful 
Part  of  the  head  of  my  boiled  son,  and  wet  with  Pharian  vine¬ 
gar.  85 

There  are  who  place  all  things  in  the  chances  of  Fortune, 
And  believe  the  world  to  be  moved  by  no  governor, 

Nature  turning  about  the  changes  both  of  the  light  and  year, 
And  therefore  intrepid  they  touch  any  altars  whatsoever. 

Another  is  fearing  lest  punishment  may  follow  a  crime:  50 
He  thinks  there  are  gods,  and  forswears,  and  thus  with  himself — 
“Let  Isis  decree  whatever  she  will  concerning  this  body 
“  Of  mine,  and  strike  my  eyes  with  her  angry  sistrum, 

“  So  that,  even  blind,  I  may  keep  the  money  which  I  deny. 
“Are  a  phthisic,  or  putrid  sores,  or  half  a  leg  9S 

“  Of  such  consequence  ?  let  not  poor  Ladas  doubt  to  wish  for 
“  The  rich  gout,  if  he  does  want  Anticyra,  nor 
“  Archigenes:  for  what  does  the  glory  of  a  swift  foot 
“Avail  him,  and  the  hungry  branch  of  the  Pisaean  olive?” 
“Tho’  the  anger  of  the  Gods  be  great,  yet  certainly  it  is 

“  SLOW.  100 

“  If  they  take  care  thtrefore  to  punish  all  the  guilty, 

“  When  will  they  come  to  me? — But,  perhaps  too,  the  deity 
“Exorable  I  may  experience:  he  useth  to  forgive  these  things. 
“  Many  commit  the  same  crimes  with  a  different  fate. 

“  One  has  borne  the  cross  as  a  reward  of  wickedness,  another  a 
“diadem.”  10f 

Thus  the  mind  trembling  with  the  fear  of  dire  guilt 
They  confirm:  then  you,  calling  him  to  the  sacred  shrines, 


Sat.  xiii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


101 


He  precedes,  even  ready  of  his  own  accord  to  draw  yon,  and  to 
teaze  you.  . 

For  when  great  impudence  remains  to  a  bad  cause, 

It  is  believed  confidence  by  many;  he  acts  a  farce,  1,0 

Snell  as  the  fugitive  buffoon  of  the  witty  Catullus. 

Yon  miserable  exclaim,  so  as  that  you  might  overcome  Stentor, 
Or  rather-  as  much  as  the  Homerican  Gradivus:  “  Do  you  hear, 
“O  Jupiter,  those  things?  nor  move  your  lips,  when  you  ought 
“To  send  forth  your  voice,  whether  you  are  of  marble  or  of 
“brass?  or  why,  n* 

“On  thy  coal,  put  we  the  pious  frankincense  from  the  loos’d 
“Paper,  and  the  cut  liver  of  a  calf,  and  of  an  hog 
“The  white  caul?  as  l  see,  there  is  nq  difference  to  be  reckon’d, 
“Between  your  images,  and  the  statue  of  Bathyllus.” 


Hear,  what  consolations  on  the  other  hand  one  may  bring,  120 
And  who  neither  hath  read  the  Cynics,  nor  the  Stoic  doctrines, 
differing 

From  the  Cynics  by  a  tunic:  nor  admires  Epicurus 
Happy  in  the  plants  of  a  small  garden. 

The  dubious  sick  may  be  taken  care  of  by  greater  physicians, 
Do  you  commit  your  vein  even  to  the  disciple  of  Philip.  133 
If  you  shew  no  fact  in  all  the  earth  so  detestable, 

I  am  silent :  nor  do  I  forbid  you  to  beat  your  breast 
With  your  fists,  nor  to  bruise  your  face  with  your  open  palm; 
Since,  loss  being  received,  the  gate  is  to  be  shut,  130 

And  with  greater  mourning  of  the  house,  with  a  greater  tumult, 
Money  is  bewailed  than  funerals:  nobody  feigns  grief 
In  this  case,  content  to  sever  the  top  of  the  garment, 

To  vex  the  eyes  with  constrained  moisture; 

Lost  money  is  deplored  with  true  tears.  131 

But  if  you  see  all  the  courts  filled  with  the  like  complaint, 

If,  tablets  being  read  over  ten  times,  by  the  different  party, 

They  saw  the  hand-writings  of  the  useless  wood  are  vain, 

Whom  their  own  letters  convicts,  and  a  principal  gem 

Of  a  Sardonyx,  which  is  kept  j.ri  ivory  boxes.  140 

Think  you,  O  sweet  sir,  that  out  of  common  things 

You  are  to  be  put?  How  are  you  the  offspring  of  a  white  lien, 

We,  vile  chickens  hatched  from  unfortunate  eggs? 

You  suffer  a  moderate  matter,  and  to  be  born  with  moderate 
choler, 

If  you  bend  your  eyes  to  greater  crimes:  compare 

The  hired  thief,  burnings  begun  with  sulpher,  l*f 

And  by  deceit,  when  the  gate  collects  the  first  fires: 

Compare  also  these,  who  take  away  the  large  cups 
Of  an  old  temple,  of  venerable  rust,  and  the  gifts 


102 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xhi. 


Of  the  people,  or  crowns  placed  by  an  ancient  king. 

If  these  are  not  there,  there  stands  forth  one  less  sacrilegious, 
who  168 

May  scrape  the  thigh  of  a  gilt  Hercules,  and  the  very  face  of 
Neptune,  who  may  draw  off  the  leaf-gold  from  Castor. 

Will  he  hesitate,  who  is  used  to  melt,  a  whole  Thunderer? 
Compare  also  the  contrivers,  and  the  merchant  of  poison, 

And  him  to  be  launched  into  the  sea  in  the  hide  of  an  ox,  155 
With  whom  an  harmless  ape,  by  adverse  fates,  is  shut  up. 

How  small  a  part  this  of  the  crimes,  which  Gallicus,  the  keeper 
of  the  city, 

Hears  from  the  morning,  until  the  light  goes  down  ? 

To  yon  who  are  willing  to  know  the  manners  of  the  human  race 
One  house  suffices ;  spend  a  few  days,  and  dare  150 

To  call  yourself  miserable,  after  you  come  from  thence. 

Who  wonders  at  a  swoln  throat  in  the  Alps?  or  who 
In  Meroe  at  a  breast  bigger  than  a  fat  infant  ? 

Who  has  been  amazed  at  the  blue  eyes  of  a  German,  his  yellow 
Hair,  and  twisting  his  curls  with  a  wet  lock?  10f 

Because  indeed  this  one  nature  is  to  them  all. 

At  the  sudden  birds  of  the  Thracians,  and  the  sonorous  cloud, 
The  Pygmaean  warrior  runs  in  his  little  arms, 

Soon  unequal  to  the  enemy,  and  seized,  thro’  the  air,  with  crooked 
Talons,  he  is  carried  by  a  cruel  crane:  if  you  could  see  this 
In  our  nations,  you  would  be  shook  with  laughter:  but  there 
Tho’  the  same  battles  may  be  seen  constantly,  nobody 
Laughs,  when  the  whole  cohort  is  not  higher  than  one  foot. 
“Shall  there  be  no  punishment  of  a  perjured  head, 

“And  of  wicked  fraud?”  “Suppose  this  man  dragged  away 
“  with  179 

“A  weightier  chain  immediately,  and  to  be  killed  (what  would 
“anger  have  more  ?) 

“At  our  will:  yet  that  loss  remains,  nor  will  ever 

“The  deposit  be  safe  to  you:”  “  but  from  his  maimed  body 

“The  least  blood  will  give  an  enviable  consolation. 

“But  revenge  is  a  good  more  pleasant  than  life  itself.”  180 

Truly  this  is  of  the  unlearned,  whose  breasts  you  may  see 
Burning,  sometimes  from  none,  or  from  slight  causes: 

However  small  the  occasion  may  be.  it  is  sufficient  for  anger. 
Chrysippus  will  not  say  the  same,  nor  the  mild  disposition 
Of  Thales,  and  the  old  man  neighbour  to  sweet  Hymeltus, 

Who  would  not,  amidst  cruel  chains,  give  a  part  of 
The  received  hemlock  to  his  accuser.  Happy  wisdom, 

By  degrees  puts  off  most  vices,  and  all  errors, 

First  teaching  what  is  right;  for  kevengje 


Sat.  xiii.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


103 


IS  ALWAYS  THE  PLEASURE  OF  A  MINUTE,  WEAK,  AND  LITTLE  190 

Mind.  Immediately  thus  conclude,  because  in  revenge 
Nobody  rejoices  more  than  a  woman.  But  why  should  you 
Think  these  to  have  escaped,  whose  mind  conscious  of  a  dire 
Fact,  keeps  them  astonished,  and  smites  with  a  dumb  stripe. 
Their  conscience  the  tormentor  shaking  a  secret  whip?  195 
But  it  is  a  vehement  punishment,  and  much  more  cruel,  than 
those 

Which  either  severe  Cseditus  invented,  or  Rhadamanthus, 

Night  and  day  to  carry  their  own  witness  in  their  breast. 

The  Pythian  prophetess  answer’d  a  certain  Spartan, 

That  in  time  to  come  he  should  not  be  unpunished,  because 
doubted  he  200 

To  retain  a  deposit,  and  defend  the  fraud  by  swearing: 

For  he  asked  what  was  the  mind  of  the  Deity, 

And  whether  Apollo  would  advise  this  deed  to  him. 

He  therefore  restored  it  from  fear,  not  from  morals,  and  yet  all 
The  voice  of  the  shrine,  he  proved  worthy  the  temple,  and  true, 205 
Being  extinguished  together  with  all  his  offspring,  and  family, 
And  with  his  relations,  tho’  deduced  from  a  long  rape. 

These  punishments  does  the  single  will  of  offending  suffer. 

For  he  who  within  i-iimself  devises  any  secret  wickedness, 
Hath  the  guilt  of  the  fact. — “  Tell  me,  if  he  accomplish’d 
“his  attempts?”  210 

“Perpetual  anxiety:  nor  does  it  cease  at  the  time  of  the  table, 

“  With  jaws  dry  as  by  disease,  and  between  his  grinders 
“The  difficult  food  increasing.  But  the  wretch  spits  out 
“Hi  s  wine:  the  precious  old  age  of  old  Albanian  214 

“Will  displease:  if  you  shew  him  better,  the  thickest  wrinkle 
“Is  gathered  on  his  forehead,  as  drawn  by  sour  Falernan. 

“In  the  night,  if  haply  care  hath  indulged  a  short  sleep, 

“And  his  limbs  tumbled  over  the  whole  bed  now  are  quiet, 
“Immediately  the  temple,  and  the  altars  of  the  violated  Deity, 
“And  (what  urges  his  mind  with  especial  pains)  220 

“Thee  he  sees  in  his  sleep :  thy  sacred  image,  and  bigger 
“  Than  human,  disturbs  him  fearful,  and  compels  him  to  con- 
“  fess.” 

“There  arc  they  who  tremble,  and  turn  pale  at  all  lightnings 
“When  it  thunders:  also  lifeless  at  the  first  murmur  of  the 
“  heavens: 

“  Not  as  if  accidental,  nor  by  rage  of  winds,  but 
“Fire  may  fall  on  the  earth  enraged,  and  may  avenge.” 

“That  did  no  harm”— the  next  tempest  is  fear’d 
“With  heavier  concern,  as  il  deferr’d  by  this  fair  weather. 

“  Moreover  a  pain  of  the  side  with  a  watchful  fever, 


«» 


104 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xiii. 


“  If  they  have  begun  to  suffer,  they  believe  the  disease  sent 
“To  their  bodies  by  some  hostile  deity:  they  think  these  things 
“  The  stones  and  darts  of  the  gods :  to  engage  a  bleating  sheep 
“  To  the  little  temple,  and  to  promise  the  comb  of  a  cock  to  the 
“  Lares 

“  They  dare  not ;  for  what  is  allowed  the  guilty  sick 
“To  hope  for?  or  what  victim  is  not  more  worthy  of  life?  23a 
“The  nature  of  wicked  men  is,  for  the  most  part,  fickle,  and 
“  changeable  ; 

“  When  they  commit  wickedness,  there  remains  constancy:  what 
“is  right 

“  And  what  wrong,  at  length  they  begin  to  perceive,  their  crimes 
“Being  finish’d;  but  nature  recurs  to  its  damned 
“Morals,  fix’d,  and  not  knowing  to  be  changed.  For  who  240 
“Hath  laid  down  to  himself  an  end  of  sinning  ?  when  recover’d 
“Modesty  once  cast  off  from  his  worn  forehead? 

“Who  is  there  of  men,  whom  you  have  seen  content  with  one 
“Base  action?  our  perfidious  wretch  will  get  his  feet  into 
“  A  snare,  and  will  suffer  the  hook  of  a  dark  prison,  344 

“Or  a  rock  of  the  Jdgean  sea,  and  the  rocks  frecpient 
“To  great  exiles.  You  will  rejoice  in  the  bitter  punishment 
“  Of  his  hated  name,  and,  at  length,  glad  will  confess,  that  no 
“one  of 

“  The  gods  is  either  deaf,  or  a  Tiresias.” 


SATIRE  XIY. 


ARGUMENT. 

This  Satire  is  levelled  at  the  bad  examples  which  parents  set  their  children’ 
and  shews  the  serious  consequences  of  such  examples,  in  helping  to 
contaminate  the  morals  of  the  rising  generation,  as  we  are  apt,  by  nature, 
rather  to  receive  ill  impressions  than  good,  and  are,  besides,  moi’e  pliant 
in  our  younger  than  in  our  riper  years.  From  hence  he  descends  to  a 
satire  on  avarice,  which  he  esteems  to  be  of  wor.  e  example  than  ;  ny 
other  of  the  vices  which  he  mentions  before ;  and  concludes  with  limit¬ 
ing  our  desires  within  reasonable  bounds. 

There  are  many  things,  Fuscinus,  worthy  of  unfavourable  re¬ 
port, 

And  fixing  a  stain  which  will  stick  upon  splendid  things, 
Which  parents  themselves  shew,  and  deliver  to  their  children. 

If  the  destructive  die  pleases  the  old  man,  the  heir  wearing  the 
bulla 

Will  play  too,  and  moves  the  same  weapons  in  his  little  dice- 
box. 

Nor  does  the  youth  allow  any  relation  to  hope  better  of  him, 
Who  has  learnt  to  peel  the  funguses  of  the  earth, 

To  season  a  mushroom,  atid,  swimming  in  the  same  sauce, 

To  immerse  beccaficos,  a  prodigal  parent, 

And  a  grey  throat  shewing  him.  When  the  seventh  year  1C 
Has  passed  over  the  boy,  all  his  teeth  not  as  yet  renewed, 

Tho’  you  should  place  a  thousand  bearded  masters  there, 

Here  as  many,  he  would  desire  always  to  sup  with  a 
Sumptuous  preparation,  and  not  to  degenerate  from  a  great 
kitchen. 

Does  Rutiius  teach  a  meek  mind  and  manners,  kind  to  small 
errors,  15 

And  the  souls  of  slaves,  and  their  bodies,  does  he  think 
To  consist  of  our  matter,  and  of  equal  elements? — 

Or  does  he  teach  to  be  cruel,  who  delights  in  the  bitter 
Sound  of  stripes,  and  compares  no  Siren  to  whips,  19 

The  Antiphates  and  Polyphemus  of  his  trembling  household — 
Then  happy,  as  often  as  any  one,  the  tormentor  being  called, 

Is  burnt  with  an  hot  iron  on  account  of  two  napkins  ? 

8 


106  JUVENAL’S  SATIRES.  [Sat.  xiv. 

What  can  he  who  is  glad  at  the  noise  of  a  chain  advise  to  a 
youth, 

Whom  branded  slaves,  a  rustic  prison,  wonderfully 
Delight  ? — Do  you  expect  that  the  daughter  of  Larga  should 
not  be  25 

An  adulteress,  who  never  could  say  over  her  mother’s  gallants 
So  quickly,  nor  could  join  them  together  with  so  much  speed, 
As  that  she  must  not  take  breath  thirty  times?  privy  to  her 
mother 

Was  the  virgin:  now,  she  dictating,  little  tablets 
She  fills,  and  gives  them  to  the  same  pimps  to  carry  to  the  gal¬ 
lant.  30 

So  nature  commands;  more  swiftly  and  speedily  do  domestic 
Examples  of  vice*s  corrupt  us,  when  they  possess  minds 
From  those  that  have  great  influence.  Perhaps  one  or  two 
Young  men  may  despise  these  things,  for  whom,  by  a  benign 
art, 

And  with  better  clay,  Titan  has  formed  their  breasts.  3S 

But  the  footsteps  of  their  fathers  which  are  to  be  avoided,  lead 
the  rest, 

And  the  path  of  old  wickedness,  long  shewn,  draws  them. 
Abstain  therefore  from  things  which  are  to  be  condemned:  for 
of  this  at  least 

There  is  one  pow’rful  reason,  lest  those  who  are  begotten  by  us 
Should  follow  our  crimes;  for  in  imitating  base  and  wicked 
Things  we  are  ail  docile;  and  a  Oalilinp  41 

You  may  see  among  every  people,  in  every  clime:  ' 

But  neither  will  Brutus,  nor  uncle  of  Brutus,  be  any  where. 
Nothing  filthy,  to  be  said,  or  seen,  should  touch  these  thresholds, 
Within  which  is  a  boy.  Far  from  hence,  from  thence  the  girls 
Of  bawds,  and  the  songs  of  the  nightly  parasite:  49 

The  greatest  reverence  is  due  to  a  boy.  If  any  base  thing 
Vou  go  about,  do  not  despise  the  years  of  a  boy, 

But  let  your  infant  son  hinder  you  about  to  sin. 

For  if  he  shall  do  any  thing  worthy  the  anger  of  the  censor,  50 
(Since  he,  like  to  you  not  in  body  only,  nor  in  countenance, 

Will  shew  himself,  the  sou  also  of  your  morals,)  and  when 
He  may  offend  the  worse,  by  all  your  footsteps, 

You  will,  forsooth,  chide,  and  chastise  with  harsh 

Clamour,  and  after  these,  will  prepare  to  change  your  will.  55 

Whence  assume  you  the  front,  and  liberty  of  a  parent, 

When,  an  old  man,  you  can  do  worse  things,  and  this  head, 
Void  of  brain,  long  since,  the  ventose  cupping-glass  may  seek? 

A  guest  being  to  come,  none  of  your  people  will  be  idle. 

“  Sweep  the  pavement,  shew  the  columns  clean,  64 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


107 


Sat.  xiv.  J 

“  Let  the  dry  spider  descend  with  all  her  web: 

“  Let  one  wipe  the  smooth  silver,  another  the  rough  vessels:” 
'The  voice  of  the  master,  earnest,  attd  holding  a  rod,  blusters. 
Therefore,  wretch,  dost  thou  tremble,  lest,  foul  with  canine  dung. 
Thy  courts  should  displease  the  eyes  of  a  coming  friend?  6i 
Lest  the  porch  should  be  overspread  with  mud  ?  and  yet  one 
servant  boy,  * 

With  one  half  bushel  of  saw-dust,  can  cleanse  these  : 

Dost  thou  not  manage  it,  that  thy  son  should  see 
Thine  house,  sacred  without  all  spot,  and  having  no  vice? 

It  is  acceptable,  that  you  have  given  a  citizen  to  your  country 
and  people,  7e 

If  you  make  him,  that  he  may  be  meet  for  his  country,  useful 
in  the  fields,  ^ 

Useful  in  managing  affairs  both  of  war  and  peace: 

For  it  will  be  of  the  greatest  consequence,  in  what  arts,  and 
with  what  morals 

You  may  train  him  up.  With  a  serpent  a  stork  nourishes 
Her  young,  and  with  a  lizard  found  in  the  devious  fields;  75 
They,  when  they  take  their  wings,  seek  the  same  animals. 

The  vulture  with  cattle,  and  with  dogs,  and  with  relicks  from 
crosses, 

Hastens  to  her  young,  and  brings  part  of  a  dead  body. 

Hence  is  the  food  also  of  a  great  vulture,  and  of  one  feeding 
Herself,  when  now  she  makes  nests  in  her  own  tree.  84 

But  the  hare  or  the  kid,  the  handmaids  of  Jove,  and  the  noble 
Birds,  hunt  in  the  forest:  hence  prey  is  put 
In  their  nest:  but,  thence,  the  mature  progeny,  when 
It  has  raised  itself,  hunger  stimulating,  hastens  to  that 
Prey  which  it  had  first  tasted,  the  egg  being  broken.  3i 

Centronius  was  a  builder,  and  now  on  the  crooked 
Shore  of  Caieta,  now  on  the  highest  summit  of  Tibur, 

Now  in  the  Prsenestine  mountains,  was  preparing  the  high 
Tops  of  villas,  with  Grecian,  and  with  marble  sought 
Afar  off,  exceeding  the  temple  of  Fortune  and  of  Hercules:  94 
As  the  eunuch  Posides  out-did  our  capitols. 

While  thus,  therefore,  Centronius  dwells,  he  diminished  his  es¬ 
tate, 

He  impaired  his  wealth,  nor  yet  was  the  measure  of  the  remain* 

in  g 

Part  small:  his  mad  son  confounded  all  this, 

While  he  raised  up  new  villas  with  better  marble.  95 

Some  chance  to  have  a  father  who  fears  the  sabbaths, 

They  adore  nothing  beside  the  clouds,  and  the  deity  of  heaven : 
Nor  do  they  think  swine’s  flesh  to  be  different  from  human, 


108 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES, 


[Sat,  xiv. 


105 


in 


From  which  the  father  abstain’d :  and  soon  they  lay  aside  their 
foreskins : 

But  used  to  despise  the  Roman  laws,  100 

They  learn,  and  keep,  and  fear  the  Jewish  law, 

Whatsoever  Moses  hath  delivered  in  the  secret  volume: 

Not  to  shew  the  ways,  unless  to  one  observing  the  same  rites, 
To  leadUhe  circumcised  only  to  a  sought-for  fountain; 

But  the  father  is  in  fault,  to  whom  every  seventh  day  was 
Idle,  and  he  did  not  meddle  with  any  part  of  life. 

Young  men,  nevertheless,  imitate  the  rest  of  their  own  accord; 
only 

Avarice  they  are  commanded  to  exercise  against  their  wills; 
For  vice  deceives  under  the  appearance  and  shadow  of  virtue, 
When  it  is  sad  in  habit,  and  severe  in  coi^itenance  and  dress 
Nor  is  the  miser  doubtfully  praised  as  frugal, 

As  the  thrifty  man,  and  a  safeguard  of  his  own  affairs, 

More  certain,  than  if,  those  same  fortunes,  the  serpent 
Of  the  Hesperides  or  of  Pontus  should  keep.  Add,  that 
This  man,  of  whom  I  speak,  the  people  think  an  excellent,  and 
venerable  115 

Artist,  for  to  these  workmen  patrimonies  increase : 

But  they  increase  by  whatsoever  means,  and  become  greater 
By  the  assiduous  anvil,  and  the  forge  always  burning. 

And  the  father  therefore  believes  the  covetous  happy  of  mind, 
Who  admires  wealth,  who  thinks  that  there  are  no  examples 
Of  an  happy  poor  man;  he  exhorts  his  young  men,  that  they 
May  persist  to  go  that  way,  and  apply  earnestly  to  the  same 
sect.  '  ,  122 

There  are  certain  elements  of  vices ;  with  these  he  immediately 
seasons 

Them,  and  compels  them  to  learn  the  most  trifling  stinginess, 
By-and-by  he  teaches  an  insatiable  wish  of  acquiring : 

He  chastises  the  bellies  of  the  servants  with  an  unjust  measure, 
He  also  hungering :  for  neither  does  he  ever  bear 
To  consume  all  the  musty  pieces  of  blue  bread, 

Who  is  used  to  keep  the  hash  of  yesterday  in  the  midst  of 
September;  also  to  defer,  to  ihe  time  of  another  supper, 

The  bean,  sealed  up  with  part  of  a  summer 
Fish,  or  with  half  a  stinking  shad, 

And  to  shut  up  the  number’d  threads  of  a  sective  leek: 

Any  one  invited  from  a  bridge  to  these,  would  refuse. 

But  for  what  end  are  riches  gather’d  by  these  torments, 

Since  it  is  an  undoubted  madness,  since  it  is  a  manifest  phrensy, 
That  you  may  dip  rich,  to  live  with  a  needy  fate  ? 

In  the  mean  time,  when  the  bag  swells  with  a  full  mouth, 


125 


131 


135 


Sat.  xiv.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


109 


The  love  of  money  increases,  as  much  as  money  itself  in¬ 
creases  ; 

And  he  wishes  for  it  less,  who  has  it  not,  Therefore  is  pre¬ 
pared  140 

Another  villa  for  you,  when  one  country-seat  is  not  sufficient ; 
And  it  likes  you  to  extend  your  borders;  and  greater  appears 
And  better  your  neighbours’  corn :  you  buy  also  this,  and 
Groves  of  trees,  and  the  mountain  which  is  white  with  the  thick 
olive : 

With  any  price  of  which  if  the  owner  be  not  prevailed  on,  145 
By  night  the  lean  oxen,  and  the  famished  herds,  with  tired 
Necks,  will  be  sent  to  the  green  corn  of  this  man. 

Nor  may  they  depart  home  from  thence,  before  the  whole  crop 
Is  gone  into  their  cruel  bellies,  so  that  you  would  believe  it  done 
by  sickles. 

You  can  hardly  say,  how  many  may  lament  such  things,  150 
And  how  many  fields  injury  has  made  to  be  set  to  sale. 

“But  what  speeches?  how  the  trumpet  of  foul  fame?” — 

“  What  does  this  hurt?”  says  he:  “I  had  rather  have  the  coat 
of  a  lupine, 

“Than  if  the  neighbourhood  in  the  whole  village  should  praise 


me 


155 


“Cutting  the  very  scanty  produce  of  a  little  farm.” 

I  warrant  you  will  want  both  disease  and  weakness, 

And  you  will  escape  mourning  and  care ;  and  a  long  space  of 
life, 

After  these  things,  will  be  given  you  with  a  better  fate ; 

If  you  alone  possess’d  as  much  cultivated  ground, 

As,  under  Tati  us,  the  Roman  people  ploughed.  160 

Vfterwards  even  to  those  broken  with  age,  and  who  had  suffer’d 
the  Punic 

vVars,  or  cruel  Pyrrhus,  and  the  Molossian  swords, 

At  length  hardly  two  acres  were  given  for  many 
Wounds.  That  reward  of  blood,  and  of  toil, 

Than  no  deserts  ever  seem’d  less,  or  the  faith  small  x6Jr 

Of  an  ungrateful  country.  Such  a  little  glebe  satisfied 
The  father  himself,  and  the  rabble  of  his  cottage,  where  big  lay 
The  wife,  and  four  infants  were  playing,  one  a  little 
Bond-slave,  three  masters :  but  for  the  great  brothers  of  these 
From  the  ditch  or  furrow  returning,  another  supper  170 

More  ample,  and  great  pots  smoked  with  pottage. 

Now  this  measure  of  ground  is  not  sufficient  for  our  garden. 
Thence  are  commonly  the  causes  of  villainies,  nor  more  poisons 
Has  any  vice  of  the  human  mind  mixed,  or  oftener 
Attacked  with  the  sword,  than  a  cruel  desire 


175 


110 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xiv. 


180 


ICO 


Of  an  unbounded  income;  for  he  who  would  be  rich, 

Would  be  so  quickly  too.  But  what  reverence  of  the  laws? 
What  fear,  or  shame,  is  there  ever  of  a  hastening  miser? — 
“Live  contented  with  those  little  cottages  and  hills, 

“  O  youths,”  said  the  Marsian  and  Hernician  formerly, 

And  the  old  Vestinian,  “let  us  seek  bread  by  the  plough, 

“  Which  is  enough  for  our  tables:  the  deities  of  the  country  ap~ 
“  prove  this, 

“  By  whose  help  and  assistance,  after  the  gift  of  acceptable  corn, 
“  There  happen  to  man  loathings  of  the  old  oak. 

“He  will  not  do  anything  forbidden,  who  is  not  ashamed 
“Thro’  ice  to  be  cover’d  with  an  high  shoe;  who  keeps  off  the 
“east  wind  18rt 

“With  averted  skins.  Purple,  foreign,  and  unknown  to  us, 
“Leads  to  wickedness  and  villany,  whatsoever  it  may  be.” 
'These  precepts  those  ancients  gave  to  their  posterity :  but  now, 
After  the  end  of  autumn,  from  the  middle  of  the  night,  the 
noisy 

Father  rouses  the  supine  youth :  “  Take  the  waxen  tablets, 

“  Write,  boy,  watch,  plead  causes,  read  over  the  red 
“  Laws  of  our  forefathers,  or  ask  for  a  vine  by  a  petition. 

“  But  your  head  untouched  with  box,  and  your  hairy  nostrils, 

“  Lselius  may  take  notice  of,  and  admire  your  huge  arms. 

“  Destroy  the  tents  of  the  Moors,  the  castles  of  the  Brigantes, 
“That  a  rich  eagle  to  thee  the  sixtieth  year 
“May  bring:  or  if  to  bear  the  long  labours  of  camps 
“It  grieves  you,  and  the  horns  heard  with  the  trumpets  loosen 
“Your  belly,  you  may  purchase,  what  you  may  sell 
“  For  the  half  or  more,  nor  let  the  dislike  of  any  merchandise, 
“  Which  is  to  be  sent  away  beyond  the  Tiber,  possess  you. 

“  Do  not  believe  there  is  any  difference  to  be  put  between 
“Ointments  and  an  hide.  'The  smell  of  gain  is  sweet 
“'From  any  thing  whatsoever.  Let  that  sentence  of  the 
“  poet  801 

“  Be  always  in  your  mouth,  worthy  the  gods,  and  of  Jove  him- 
“  self : 


IQS 


209 


“Nobody  asks  from  whence  you  have,  but  iteehoves  you  to 

“  HAVE.” 

This,  the  old  woman  shew  to  the  boys  asking  three  farthings: 
This,  all  the  girls  learn  before  their  Alpha  and  Beta. 
Whatsoever  parent  is  instant  with  such  admonitions,  810 

I  might  thus  speak  to:  “Say,  (O  most  vain  man),  who  “com- 
“  mands 

“  Thee  to  hasten  ?  I  warrant  the  scholar  better  than 
‘‘The  master:  depart  secure:  you  will  be  outdone,  as  Ajax 


Sat.  xiv.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


Ill 


“Surpassed  Telamon,  as  Achilles  outdid  Peleus. 

“You  must  spare  the  tender  ones:  as  yet  their  marrows  the 
evils  215 

“Of  native  wickedness  have  not  filled:  when  he  has  begun 
“To  comb  his  beard,  and  to  admit  the  point  of  a  long  knife, 
“He  will  be  a  false  witness,  he  will  sell  perjuries  for  a  small 
“Sum,  touching  both  the  altar  and  foot  of  Ceres  ” 

“  Already  believe  your  daughter-in-law  carried  forth,  if  your 
“thresholds  220 

“She  enters  with  a  deadly  potion.  By  what  fingers  will  she 
“be  pressed 

“In  her  sleep? — for,  what  things  you  may  suppose  to  be  ac- 
“  quired 

“By  sea  and  land,  a  shorter  way  will  confer  upon  him: 

“'For  of  great  wickedness  there  is  no  labour.  These  things  I 
“  never 

“  Commanded,  may  you  some  time  say,  nor  persuaded  such 
“  things,  223 

“  But  the  cause  of  a  bad  mind,  nevertheless,  and  its  origin,  is  in 
“  you : 

“  For  whoever  has  taught  the  love  of  a  great  income, 

“  And,  by  foolish  admonition,  produces  covetous  boys, 

“  And  he  who  to  double  patrimonies  by  frauds, 

“Gives  liberty,  loosens  all  the  reins  to  the  chariot,  230 

“Which  if  you  would  recall,  it  knows  not  to  stop, 

“  And,  you  contemned,  and  the  bounds  being  left,  it  is  hurried  on. 
“'Nobody  thinks  it  enough  to  offend  so  much,  as  you  may 
“  Permit,  so  much  do  they  indulge  themselves  more  widely. 
“When  you  say  to  a  youth,  he  is  a  fool  who  may  give  to  a 
“friend  23s 

“  Who  may  lighten,  and  raise  up  the  poverty  of  a  relation; 

“  You  both  teach  him  to  rob,  and  to  cheat,  and  by  every  crime 
“To  acquire  riches,  the  love  of  which  is  in  thee, 

“  As  much  as  of  their  country  was  in  the  breast  of  the  Decii,  as 
“  much 

“  As  Menoeceus  loved  Thebes,  if  Greece  be  true, 

“In  the  furrows  of  which,  legions  from  the  teeth  of  a  snake 
“  With  shields  are  born,  and  horrid  wars  undertake 
“Immediately,  as  if  a  trumpeter  too  had  risen  wilh  them. 

“  Therefore  the  fire,  the  sparks  of  which  yourself  have  given, 
“You  will  see  burning  wide,  and  carrying  off  all  things. 

“  Nor  will  he  spare  your  miserable  self,  and  the  trembling  master 
“The  young  lion  in  his  cage,  with  great  roaring,  will  take  off.” 
“Your  nativity  is  known  to  astrologers.” — “But  it  is  grievous 
“  To  expect  slow  distaffs :  you’ll  die,  your  thread  not  yet 


240 


245 


112 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xiv.  , 


2  50 


2S5> 


26« 


265 


“Broken  off:  you  even  now  hinder,  and  delay  his  wishes, 
“Now  a  long  and  stag-like  old  age  torments  the  youth. 

“  Seek  Archigenes  quickly,  and  buy  what  Mithridates 
“  Composed,  if  you  are  willing  to  pluck  another  fig, 

“And  to  handle  other  roses:  a  medicine  is  to  be  had, 

“  Which  either  a  father,  or  a  king,  ought  to  sup  up  before' 
“  meat.” 

I  shew  an  extraordinary  pleasure,  to  which  no  theatres, 

No  stages  of  the  sumptuous  praetor,  you  can  equal, 

If  you  behold,  in  how  great  danger  of  life  may  consist 
The  increase  of  an  house,  much  treasure  in  a  brazen 
Chest,  and  money  to  be  placed  at  watchful  Castor, 

Since  Mars,  the  avenger,  also  lost  his  helmet,  and  his  own 
Affairs  he  could  not  keep.  Therefore  you  may  leave 
All  the  scenes  of  Flora,  and  of  Ceres,  and  of  Cybele, 

By  so  much  are  human  businesses  greater  sports. 

Do  bodies  thrown  from  a  machine  more  delight 
The  mind,  and  those  who  are  used  to  descend  a  straight  rope, 
Than  thou,  who  always  abidest  in  a  Corycian  ship, 

And  dwellest,  always  to  be  lifted  up  by  the  north-west  wind, 
and  the  south, 

Wretched,  the  vile  merchant  of  a  stinking  sack? 

Who  rejoicest,  from  the  shore  of  ancient  Crete,  to  have 
brought  270 

Thick  sweet  wine,  and  bottles  the  countrymen  of  Jove. 

He  nevertheless  fixing  his  steps,  with  doubtful  foot, 

Procures  a  living  by  that  recompense;  and  winter  and  hunger 
By  that  rope  he  avoids :  you  on  account  of  a  thousand  talents, 
And  an  hundred  villas  are  rash.  Behold  the  ports,  275 

And  the  sea  full  with  large  ships — more  of  men  are  now 
On  the  sea :  the  fleet  will  come  wherever  the  hope  of  gain 
Shall  call ;  nor  the  Carpathian  and  Ggetulian  seas  only 
Will  it  pass  over,  but,  Calpe  being  far  left, 

Will  hear  the  sun  hissing  in  the  Herculean  gulf.  280 

It  is  a  great  reward  of  labour,  that  with  a  stretched  purse, 

You  may  return  home  from  thence,  and  proud  with  a  swelled 
bag, 

To  have  seen  monsters  of  the  ocean,  and  marine  youths. 

Not  one  madness  agitates  minds :  he,  in  the  hands  of  his  sister, 
Is  affrighted  with  the  countenance,  and  fire  of  the  Eumenides. 
This  man,  an  ox  being  stricken,  believes  Agamemnon  to  roar, 
Or  Ithacus.  Tho’  he  should  spare  his  coats  and  cloaks, 

He  wants  a  keeper,  who  fills  with  merchandise  a  ship 
To  the  topmost  edge,  and  by  a  plank  is  divided  from  the  water ; 
When  the  cause  of  so  great  evil,  and  of  this  danger, 


290 


Sat.  xiv.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


113 


300 


305 


Is  silver  battered  into  titles,  and  small  faces. 

Clouds  and  lightnings  occur :  “  Loose  the  cable” — 

(Cries  the  owner  of  the  wheat,  and  the  buyer-up  of  pepper — ) 

“  Nothing  this  colour  of  the  heaven,  nothing  this  black  cloud 
“  threatens : 

“  It  is  summer-thunder.” — Unhappy  wretch !  and  perhaps  that 
very  295 

Night  he  will  fall,  the  beams  being  broken,  and  be  pressed  down 
by  a  wave, 

Overwhelmed,  and  will  hold  his  girdle  with  his  left  hand,  or 
with  his  bite. 

But  for  him,  for  whose  wishes  a  while  ago  the  gold  had  not 
sufficed, 

Which  Tagus,  and  Pactolus  rolls  in  its  shining  sand, 

Rags  covering  his  cold  thighs  will  suffice, 

And  a  little  food ;  while,  his  ship  being  sunk,  shipwrecked,  he 
Asks  a  penny,  and  beholds  himself  in  a  painted  tempest. 
Things  gotten  with  so  many  evils,  with  greater  care  and  fear 
Are  kept — miserable  is  the  custody  of  great  wealth. 

Wealthy  Licinus  commands  his  troop  of  servants,  with 
Buckets  set  in  order,  to  watch  by  night,  affrighted  for 
His  amber,  and  for  his  statues,  and  his  Phrygian  column, 

And  for  his  ivory,  and  broad  tortoise-shell.  The  casks  of  the 
naked 

Cynic-  don’t  burn :  should  you  break  them,  another  house 
Will  be  made  to-morrow,  or  the  same  will  be  made  solder’d 
with  lead.  v  310 

Alexander  perceived,  when  he  saw,  in  that  cask, 

The  great  inhabitant,  how  much  happier  this  man  was,  who 
Desired  nothing,  than  he  who  required  the  whole  world, 

About  to  suffer  dangers  to  be  equalled  to  things  done. 

Thou  hast  no  divinity,  O  Fortune,  if  there  be  prudence :  thee,  3,5 
We  make  a  goddess.  Nevertheless  the  measure  of  an  estate 
Which  may  suffice,  if  any  should  consult  me,  I  will  declare. 

As  much  as  thirst  and  hunger,  and  cold  require; 

As  much,  Epicurus,  as  sufficed  thee  in  thy  little  garden ; 

As  much  as  the  Socratic  Penates  had  taken  before. 

Nature  never  says  one  thing,  wisdom  another. 

I  seem  to  confine  you  by  sour  examples;  mix 
Therefore  something  from  our  manners,  make  the  sum 
What  the  law  thinks  worthy  the  twice  seven  ranks  of  Otho 
If  this  also  draws  a  wrinkle,  and  extends  your  lip, 

Take  two  knights,  make  the  third  four  hundred. 

If  as  yet  l  have  not  filled  your  bosom,  if  it  be  opened  farther, 


320 


325 


114 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xiv. 


Neither  the  fortune  of  Croesus,  nor  the  Persian  kingdoms, 
Will  ever  suffice  your  mind,  nor  the  riches  of  Narcissus, 
To  whom  Claudius  Caesar  indulged  every  thing,  whose 
Commands  he  obey’d,  being  ordered  to  kill  his  wife. 


SATIRE  XY. 


ARGUMENT. 

The  Poet  io  this  Satire,  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  written  when  he  was 
under  his  banishment  in  Egypt,  relates  the  mortal  and  irreconcileable 
hatred,  which  sprung  from  a  religious  quarrel  between  the  Ombites  and 
Tentyrites,  inhabitants  of  two  neighbouring  cities  of  Egypt — and  describes 
in  very  lively  colours,  a  bloody  fray  which  happened  between  them.  He 
seems  to  lay  this  as  a  ground  lor  those  fine  reflections,  with  which  he 
finishes  the  Satire,  on  the  nature,  use,  and  intention  of  civil  society. 

In  reading  this  Satire,  it  is  difficult  not  to  advert  to  the  monstrous  cruelties 
which  superstition  and  bigotry  have  brought  on  mankind,  while  those  who 
have  disgraced  the  Christian  name  by  bearing  it,  have,  with  relentless 
fury,  inflicted  tortures  and  death  on  thousands  of  innocent  people,  for  no 
other  crime  than  a  difference  of  opinion  in  religious  matters. 

Marshall,  in  his  note  on  line  36,  thus  expresses  himself — “Hinc  sirnultas 
“  et  odium  utrique  populo  oriebantur,  nempe  ex  diversitate  reiigionum, 
‘•quae  in  mundo  etiarri  Christiano,  Di  boni !  quantas  strages  excitavit!” 
The  attentive  reader  of  this  Satire  will  find  a  lively  exhibition  of  those 
principles  which  actuate  bigots  of  all  religions,  zealots  of  all  persuasions ; 
and  which,  as  far  as  they  are  permitted,  will  always  act  uniformly  against 
the  peace  and  happiness  of  mankind.  He  may  amuse  himself  with  alle¬ 
gorizing  the  Ombites  and  Tentyrites  into  emblems  of  blind  zeal  and  party 
rage,  which  no  other  bounds  than  want  of  power  have  kept  from  deso¬ 
lating  the  earth. 

Who  knows  not.  Bithynian  Volusius,  what  monstrous  things 
Mad  Egypt  can  worship?  this  part  adores  a  crocodile; 

That  fears  an  Ibis  saturated  with  serpents. 

A  golden  image  of  a  sacred  monkey  shines, 

Where  ihe  magic  chords  resound  from  the  half  Memnon,  5 
And  ancient  Thebes  lies  overthrown  with  its  hundred  gates. 
'There  sea-fish,  here  a  fish  of  the  river;  there 
Whole  towns  worship  a  dog,  nobody  Diana. 

It  is  a  sin  to  violate  a  leek  or  onion,  or  to  break  them  with  a 
bite. 

O  holy  nations,  for  whom  are  born  in  gardens  10 

These  deities!  Every  table  abstains  from  animals  bearing 
Wool :  it  is  there  unlawful  to  kill  the  offspring  of  a  shc-goat, 
But  lawful  to  be  fed  with  human  flesh.  When  Ulysses 


116 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xv. 


Was  telling,  at  supper,  such  a  deed  to  the  astonish’d 
Aleinous,  perhaps,  in  some  he  moved  anger  or  15 

Laughter,  as  a  lying  babbler. — “  Into  the  sea  does  nobody 
“  Throw  this  fellow,  worthy  of.  a  cruel  and  true  Charybdis, 

“  Feigning  huge  Lsestrygonians,  and  Cyclops  ? 

“  For  sooner  Scylla,  or  the  concurring  rocks 
“  Of  Cyane,  and  bags  full  of  tempests  20 

“  Would  I  have  believed,  or,  struck  by  the  slender  wand  of  Circe, 
u  Elpenor  with  his  swine-rowers  to  have  grunted. 

“  Has  he  thought  the  Phaecian  people  are  so  empty-headed  ?” 
Thus  deservedly  any  one,  not  as  yet  drunk,  and  who  a  very 
little 

Strong  wine  from  a  Corcyrsean  urn  had  drawn  :  35 

For  Ulysses  related  this  without  any  witness. 

We  will  relate  wonderful  things,  and  lately  done  (Junius  being 
Consul)  upon  the  walls  of  warm  Coptus  \ 

We  the  wickedness  of  the  vulgar,  and  more  grievous  than  all 
buskins : 

For  wickedness,  tho’  you  should  turn  over  all  the  tragedies  30 
From  the  Pyrrha,  no  whole  people  commits  among  the  trage¬ 
dians.  Hear 

What  an  example  dire  cruelty  has  produced  in  our  time. 

There  burns  as  yet  an  old  and  ancient  grudge, 

An  immortal  hatred,  and  a  wound  not  to  be  healed, 

Between  the  bordering  Ombos  and  Tentyra.  Thence,  on  both 
sides,  35 

The  highest  fury  in  the  vulgar,  because  the  deities  of  their 
neighbours 

Each  place  hates,  since  it  can  believe  them  only  to  be  accounted 
Gods,  which  itself  worships :  but,  in  a  festival  time, 

There  seem'd,  to  all  the  chiefs  and  leaders  of  the  other  people, 
An  opportunity  to  be  seized,  lest  40 

A  glad  and  cheerful  day,  lest  the  joys  of  a  great  feast 
They  should  be  sensible  of,  the  tables  b,eing  placed  at  the  tem¬ 
ples  and  streets,  * 

And  the  wakeful  bed,  which,  lying  night  and  day, 

Sometimes  the  seventh  sun  found.  Rude  indeed  is 

Egypt,  but  in  luxury,  as  far  as  I  have  remarked,  45 

The  barbarous  rabble  does  not  yield  to  infamous  Canopus. 

Add  too,  that  the  victory  is  easy  over  the  drunken  and  stam¬ 
mering, 

And  reeling  with  wine.  There,  a  dancing 

Of  the  men,  with  a  black  piper ;  ointments  such 

As  they  were,  and  flowers,  and  many  chaplets  on  the  forehead ; 

Here,  fasting  hatred :  but  their  first  brawlings  they  begin  51 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


117- 


Sat.  xv.] 

To  sound,  their  minds  burning :  these  the  trumpet  of  the  quar¬ 
rel. 

Then  they  engage  with  equal  clamour,  and  instead  of  a  weapon 
The  naked  hand  rages :  few  cheeks  without  a  wound  :  14 

Scarce  to  any,  or  to  none,  in  the  whole  engagement,  a  nose 
Whole :  already  you  might  see,  throughout  all  the  bands,  half 
Countenances,  other  faces,  and  bones  gaping  from  their  broken 
Cheeks,  lists  full  of  the  blood  of  their  eyes. 

Nevertheless  they  believed  themselves  to  play,  and  to  exercise 
Puerile  battles,  because  they  can  tread  on  no  corpses:  60 

And  indeed,  for  what  purpose  are  so  many  thousands  of  a  light¬ 
ing 

Multitude,  if  all  live?  therefore  the  attack  is  sharper,  and  now 
Stones,  gotten  throughout  the  ground  with  arms  reclined, 

They  begin  to  throw,  the  domestic  weapons 

Of  sedition;  nor  these  stones  such  as  both  Turnus  and  Ajax, 

Or  with  the  weight  with  which  Tydides  struck  the  thigh  66 
Of  fEneas :  but  those  that  right  hands  unlike  to  them 
Could  send  forth,  and  born  in  our  time : 

For  this  race  was  decreasing,  Homer  being  yet  alive. 

The  earth  now  brings  forth  bad  men,  and  small  ;  70 

Therefore  whatever  god  hath  beheld  them,  he  laughs  and  hates. 
Let  the  story  be  fetched  back  from  the  digression.  After  they 
Were  increased  with  succours,  one  party  dares  to  draw 
The  sword,  and  to  renew  the  fight  with  hostile  arrows.  74 
They  urge  their  enemies,  giving  their  backs  to  swift  flight, 

Who  inhabit  Tentyra  near  the  shady  palm-tree. 

Here  one  slips  down,  hastening  his  course  with  too  much 
Fear,  and  is  taken;  but  him  cut  into  a  great  many 
Pieces  and  particles  (that  one  dead  man  for  many 
Might  suffice)  the  victorious  rabble  ate  all  up,  the  bones  80 
Being  gnawed:  nor  did  they  boil  him  in  a  burning  kettle 
Or  with  spits :  they  thought  it  so  very  long,  and  tardy 
To  wait  for  fires,  content  with  the  raw  carcase. 

Hence  we  may  rejoice,  that  they  did  not  violate  lire, 

Which  Prometheus,  stolen  from  the  highest  part  of  heaven,  85 
Gave  to  the  earth.  I  congratulate  the  element,  and  thee 
I  think  to  exult:  but  he.  who  bore  to  gnaw  the  carcase, 

Never  ate  any  thing  more  willingly  than  this  flesh: 

For  in  so  great  wickedness  ask  not,  nor  doubt,  whether 
The  first  gullet  perceived  a  pleasure.  But  he  90 

Who  stood  farthest,  the  whole  body  now  consumed,  his  fingers 
Being  drawn  along  the  ground,  tastes  something  of  the  blood. 

The  Vascons  (as  the  report  is)  using  such  aliments, 

Prolong’d  their  lives:  but  the  matter  is  different:  but  there 


118 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xv. 


Is  the  envy  of  Fortune,  and  the  utmost  of  wars,  extreme 
Misfortunes,  the  dire  want  of  a  long  siege. 

For  the  example  of  this  food,  which  is  now  in  question,  ought 
To  be  lamented  :  as  the  nation,  which  I  just  now  mentioned, 
After  all  herbs,  after  all  animals,  whatever 
The  fury  of  an  empty  belly  urged,  (the  very  enemies  them¬ 
selves  109 

Pitying  their  paleness,  and  leanness,  and  their  slender  limbs,) 
They  tore  for  hunger  the  limbs  of  others,  ready  to  have  eaten 
Their  own  too.  Who  of  men,  or  of  the  gods,  would  have  re¬ 
fused 

To  pardon  forces  that  had  suffered  dire  and  cruel  things, 

And  whom  the  manes  of  those  very  people,  whose  bodies 
They  were  fed  with,  might  forgive  ?  better  us 
The  precepts  of  Zeno  admonish;  he  thinks  not  all  things,  some 
Are  to  be  done  for  life.  But  a  Cantabrian  whence 
A  Stoic — especially  in  the  age  of  old  Metellus  ? 

Now  the  whole  world  has  the  Grecian,  and  our  Athens: 
Eloquent  Gaul  taught  the  British  lawyers — 

Thule  now  speaks  of  hiring  a  rhetorician. 

Yet  that  people  whom  we  have  spoken  of  were  noble :  and  equal 
In  valour  and  fidelity,  but  greater  in  slaughter,  Saguntus, 
Excuses  something  like  this.  Egypt  is  more  cruel  than  the 
Mceotic  nt 

Altar:  for  that  Tauric  inventress  of  a  wicked 
Rite  (as  now  you  may  believe  what  verses  deliver, 

As  worthy  credit)  only  slays  men:  nothing  beyond, 

Or  more  grievous,  does  the  victim  fear,  than  a  knife.  But  what 
calamity 

Impelled  these?  what  so  great  hunger,  and  arms  hostile  lt* 
To  a  rampart,  have  compelled  them,  so  detestable  a  monstrous 
thing 

To  attempt?  could  they  have  done  other  displeasure,  the  land 
Of  Memphis  being  dry,  to  the  Nile  unwilling  to  rise? 

With  which  neither  the  terrible  Cimbri,  nor  the  Britons  ever, 
And  the  fierce  Sauromatae,  or  the  cruel  Agathyrsi,  125 

With  this  fury  the  weak  and  useless  vulgar  raged, 

Accustomed  to  spread  little  sails  in  earthen  boats, 

And  to  ply  the  short  oars  of  a  painted  earthen  vessel. 

Nor  can  you  find  a  penalty  for  the  wickedness,  nor  prepare 
Punishments  worthy  these  people,  in  whose  mind  equal  wo 
And  alike  are  hunger  and  anger.  Most  tender  hearts 
Nature  confesses  herself  to  give  to  human  kind. 

Who  has  given  tears,  this  best  partfof  our  sense. 


\ 


Sat.  xv.] 


JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 


119 


She  commands,  therefore,  to  bewail  the  misfortune  of  a  mourn¬ 
ing  friend ; 

And  the  squalid  appearance  of  a  criminal ;  an  orphan  calling  to 
the  laws  M‘ 

His  defrauder,  whose  girl-like  hairs  make  his 
Countenance,  flowing  with  weeping,  uncertain. 

'By  command  of  nature  we  groan,  when  the  funeral  of  an  adult 
Virgin  occurs,  or  an  infant  is  shut  up  in  the  earth, 

And  less  than  the  fire  of  the  pile.  For  what  good  man,  or 
worthy  140 

The  secret  torch,  such  as  the  priest  of  Ceres  would  have  him  to 
be, 

Thinks  any  evils  alien  from  himself?  This  separates  us 
From  the  herd  of  brutes,  and  therefore  we  alone  having  shared 
A  venerable  disposition,  and  being  capable  of  divine  things, 
And  apt  for  exercising  and  understanding  arts,  145 

Have  drawn  sense  sent  down  from  the  celestial  top, 

Which  prone  things,  and  things  looking  on  the  earth,  want. 
The  common  builder  of  the  world  at  the  beginning  indulged  to 
them 

Only  souls;  to  us  a  mind  also,  that  a  mutual  affection 
Might  command  us  to  seek,  and  to  afford  help :  1J0 

'To  draw  the  dispersed  into  a  people,  to  migrate  from  the  old 
Forest,  and  to  leave  woods  inhabited  by  our  ancestors : 

To  build  houses,  to  join  to  our  habitations 
Another  roof,  that  safe  slumbers,  by  a  neighbouring 
Threshold,  a  contributed  confidence  might  give :  to  protect  with 
arms  155 

A  fallen  citizen,  or  one  staggering  with  a  great  wound : 

To  give  signs  with  a  common  trumpet,  to  be  defended  with  the 
same 

Towers,  and  to  be  secured  by  one  key  of  the  gates. 

But  now  the  concord  of  serpents  is  greater:  a  similar 

Beast  spares  his  kindred  spots.  When,  from  a  lion,  169 

Did  a  stronger  lion  take  away  life?  in  what  forest  ever, 

Did  a  boar  expire  by  the  teeth  of  a  larger  boar? 

The  Indian  tiger  observes  a  perpetual  peace  with  a  fierce 
'Tiger:  there  is  agreement  with  savage  bears  among  themselves. 
But  for  a  man  the  deadly  sword  from  the  impious  anvil  165 
To  have  produced  is  little;  whereas,  being  accustomed  only  to 
heat 

Rakes  and  spades,  and  tired  with  mattocks  and  the  ploughshare, 
The  first  smiths  knew  not  how  to  beat  out  swords. 

We  see  people,  to  whose  anger  it  does  not  suffice 


120 


JUYENAL’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  xv. 


To  have  killed  any  one ;  but  the  breasts,  the  arms,  the  face,  170 

They  believed  to  be  a  kind  of  food.  What  therefore  would  he 
have  said, 

Or  whither  would  he  not  have  fled,  if  now  Pythagoras  could 
have  seen 

These  monstrous  things  ?  who  abstain'd  from  all  animals,  as 
from 

A  man,  and  did  not  indulge  every  kind  of  pulse  to  his  belly. 


SATIRE  XYI. 


ARGUMENT. 

This  Satire  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Juvenal  while  he  com¬ 
manded  in  Egypt,  (see  sat.  xv.  1.  45,  note  2.) ;  he  sets  forth,  ironically, 
the  advantages  and  privileges  of  the  soldiery,  and  how  happy  they  are 
beyond  others  whom  he  mentions. 

Many  have  thought  that  this  Satire  was  not  written  by  Juvenal ;  but  I 
think  that  the  weight  of  evidence  seems  against  that  opinion,  and  that 
there  are  many  passages  so  exactly  in  the  style  of  Juvenal,  a*  to  afford 
the  strongest  internal  evidence  that  it  was  written  by  him.  It  may  be 
granted  not  to  be  a  finished  piece,  like  the  rest;  but  if  we  only  regard  it 
as  a  draught  or  design  of  a  larger  work,  it  is  a  valuable  hint  on  the  op¬ 
pression  and  inconveniences  of  a  military  government. 

Who,  O  Gallos,  can  number  the  advantages  of  the  happy 
Soldiery  ?  now  since  prosperous  camps  may  be  gone  into, 

Let  the  door  receive  me,  a  fearful  beginner,  with  a  favourable 
Star:  for  an  hour  of  kind  fate  avails  more, 

Than  if  an  epistle  of  Venus  were  to  commend  us  to  Mars,  ‘ 
And  the  mother  who  delights  in  the  Samian  sand. 

Let  us  first  treat  common  advantages:  of  which  that  will 
Hardly  be  the  least,  that  a  gownsman  to  strike  you 
May  not  dare.  Even  tho’  he  may  be  stricken,  let  him  dissemble. 
Nor  dare  to  shew  his  teeth  beat  out  to  the  praetor,  u 

And  a  black  bump  in  his  face  with  swelled  bluenesses, 

And  eyes  left,  the  physician  promising  nothing. 

A  Bardiac  judge  is  given  to  one  willing  to  punish  these  things, 
A  shoe,  and  large  buskins  at  the  great  benches, 

The  ancient  laws  of  camps,  and  the  custom  of  Camillus  '* 
Being  observed,  that  a  soldier  should  not  litigate  without  the 
trench, 

And  far  from  the  standards.  Most  just  is  therefore  the  trial 
Of  centurions  concerning  a  soldier  ;  nor  will  revenge 
Be  wanting  to  me,  if  a  cause  of  just  complaint  be  brought : 

Vet  the  whole  cohort  is  inimical,  and  all  the  companies 
Obstruct  with  great  consent.  You  will  take  care,  that  there  b« 
Vengeance,  heavier  than  the  injury.  It  will  therefore  be  worthy 
The  heart  of  the|declaimer  Vagcllius  of  Mutina, 

Since  you  have  two  legs,  to  offend  so  many  common  soldiers, 

9 


122 


[Sat.  xvi. 


V  \ 

JUVENAL’S  SATIRES. 

Thousands  of  nails.  Who  can  be  so  far  from  the  city?  *5 
Besides,  who  is  so  much  a  Pylades,  beyond  the  mole  of  the 
rampart 

That  he  would  come  ?  let  tears  immediately  be  dried  up,  and 
let  us 

Not  solicit  friends  about  to  excuse  themselves. 

When  the  judge  says — “Give  evidence:”  let  him  dare, 

(I  know  not  who,)  who  saw  the  blows,  say — “I  saw,”  3* 
And  I  will  believe  him  worthy  the  beard,  and  worthy  the  locks, 
Of  our  ancestors;  you  might  sooner  produce  a  false  witness 
Against  a  villager,  than  one  speaking  what  is  true 
Against  the  fortune  of  a  soldier,  and  against  his  reputation. 

Now  other  advantages,  and  other  emoluments,  let  us  note,  5# 
Of  oaths.  A  vale  of  my  ancestral  estate, 

Or  a  field,  if  a  wicked  neighbour  has  taken  away  from  me : 

Or  hath  dug  up  the  sacred  stone  from  the  middle  border, 

Which  my  annual  puls  hath  rever’d  with  an  old  cake: 

Or  a  debtor  goes  on  not  to  render  money  taken, 

Saying  the  hand-writings  of  the  useless  wood  are  void  ; 

The  year  of  the  whole  people,  which  will  begin  suits, 

Will  be  to  be  waited  for :  but  then  also  a  thousand  fatigues 
Are  to  be  borne,  a  thousand  delays ;  so  often  the  benches  are 
only 

Spread.  Now  eloquent  Caeditius  laying  by  his  garments,  ** 
And  Fuscus  now  making  water,  prepared 
We  depart,  and  fight  in  the  slow  sand  of  the  forum. 

But  to  them,  whom  arms  cover,  and  a  belt  goes  round, 

What  time  of  trial  they  please,  to  them  is  afforded : 

Nor  is  the  affair  worn  out  by  a  long  impediment  of  the  cause. 
Moreover,  a  right  of  making  a  will  is  given  to  soldier* 
alone,  tl 

The  father  living.  For  what  things  are  gotten  by  the  labour 
Of  warfare,  it  was  thought  good  shot1  Id  not  be  in  the  body  of 
the  estate, 

The  whole  government  of  which  the  father  possesses.  There¬ 
fore,  Coran  us, 

An  attendant  of  banners,  and  earning  the  money  of  camps, 

His  father,  tho’  trembling,  besets.  Just  labour  *• 

Promotes  this  man,  and  renders  its  rewards  to  his  glorious  toil. 
This  certainly  seems  to  be  a  concern  of  the  general  himself, 
That 'he  who  shall  be  brave,  the  same  may  be  most  happy, 
That  all  should  be  glad  with  trappings,  and  all  with  collars.  ** 


■ 


THE 

SATIRES 

OF 


AULUS  PERSIUS  FLACCUS. 

Mordoci  radere  rero 

SsL  L  1.  107. 


i 


PREFACE. 


Aulus  Pbrsius  Flaccus  was  born  at  Volaterree,  in  Etruria 
(now  Tuscany),  about  the  twentieth  year  of  the  emperor  Ti¬ 
berius,  that  is  to  say,  about  two  years  after  the  death  of  Christ. 
Flaccus,  his  father,  was  a  Roman  knight,  whom  he  lost  when 
he  was  but  six  years  of  age.  His  mother  Fulvia  Sisennia, 
afterward  married  one  Fusius,  a  Roman  knight,  and  within  a 
few  years  buried  him  also.  Our  poet  studied,  till  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  at  Volaterras ;  he  then  came  to  Rome,  where  he 
put  himself  under  the  instruction  of  Remmius  Palasmon,  a 
grammarian,  and  Virginius  Flaccus,  a  rhetorician  ;  to  each  of 
which  he  paid  the  highest  attention.  At  sixteen  he  made  a 
friendship  with  Annaeus  Cornutus,  (by  country  an  African,  by 
profession  a  Stoic  philosopher,)  from  whom  he  got  an  insight 
into  Stoic  philosophy.  By  means  of  Cornutus  he  became  ac¬ 
quainted  with  Annaeus  Lucanus,  who  so  admired  the  writings 
of  Persius,  that  on  hearing  him  read  his  verses,  he  could 
scarcely  refrain  from  crying  out  publicly,  that  “  they  were  abso¬ 
lute  poems.” 

He  was  a  young  man  of  gentle  manners,  of  great  modesty, 
and  of  remarkable  sobriety  and  frugality  :  dutiful  and  affec¬ 
tionate  towards  his  mother,  loving  and  kind  to  his  sisters :  a 
most  strenuous  friend  and  defender  of  virtue — an  irreconcileable 
-nemy  to  vice  in  all  its  shapes,  as  may  appear  from  his  Satires, 
which  came  from  his  masterly  pen  in  an  early  time  of  life, 
when  dissipation,  lewdness,  and  extravagance  were  cultivated 
and  followed  by  so  many  of  his  age,  and  when,  instead  of  mak¬ 
ing  them  his  associates,  he  made  them  the  object  of  his  severest 
animadversion. 

He  died  of  a  disorder  in  his  stomach  about  the  thirtieth  year 
of  his  age,  and  left  behind  him  a  large  fortune ;  the  bulk  of 
which  he  bequeathed  to  his  mother  and  sisters ;  leaving  an 
handsome  legacy  to  his  friend  and  instructor  Cornutus,  together 
with  his  study  of  books  ;  Cornutus  only  accepted  the  books, 
and  gave  the  money,  which  Persius  had  left  him,  to  the  survi¬ 
ving  sisters  of  Persius. 

Some  have  supposed,  that  Persius  studied  obscurity  in  his 
Satires,  and  that  to  this  we  owe  the  difficulty  of  unravelling 


126 


PREFACE. 


his  meaning  j  that  he  did  this,  that  he  might  with  the  greater 
safety  attack  and  expose  the  vicious  of  his  day,  and  particular¬ 
ly  the  emperor  Nero,  at  whom  some  of  his  keenest  shafts  were 
aimed :  however  this  may  be,  I  have  endeavoured  to  avail 
myself  of  the  explanations  which  the  learned  have  given,  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  forming  of  my  own  judgment,  which, 
whether  coincident  with  theirs  or  not,  I  have  freely  set  down 
in  the  following  notes,  in  order  that  my  readers  may  the  mbre 
easily  form  theirs. 

As  to  the  comparisons  which  have  been  made  between  Hor¬ 
ace,  Persius,  and  Juvenal,  (the  former  of  which  is  so  often 
imitated  by  Persius,)  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  Dryden’s 
Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Dorset,  which  is  prefixed  to  the  trans¬ 
lation  of  Juvenal  and  Persius ,  by  himself  and  others,  and 
where  this  matter  is  fully  considered.  For  my  own  part,  I 
think  it  best  to  allow  each  his  particular  merit,  and  to  avoid 
the  invidious  and  disagreeable  task  of  making  comparisons, 
where  each  is  so  excellent,  and  wherein  prejudice  and  fancy 
too  often  supersede  true  taste  and  sound  judgment. 

However  the  comparative  merit  of  Persius  may  be  deter¬ 
mined,  his  positive  excellence  can  hardly  escape  the  readers  of 
his  Satires,  or  incline  them  to  differ  from  Quintilian,  who  says 
of  him,  Inst.  Orator,  lib.  x.  cap.  I.  “  Multum  et  verce  Gloria, 
quamvis  uno  libro  Persius  meruit .” 

Martial  seems  of  this  opinion,  lib  iv.  epig.  xxviii.  1.  7,  8. 

“  Ssepius  in  libro  memoratur  Persius  uno, 

“  Quam  levis  in  tota  Marsus  Amazonide.” 

On  which  the  Scholiast  observes,  by  way  of  note :  “  Gratior 
“  est  parvus  liber  Satirarum  Persii,  quam  ingens  volumen 
“  Marsi,  quo  bellum  Herculis  scripsit  contra  A  mazonas .” 

Nor  were  the  Satires  of  Persius  in  small  esteem,  even  among 
those  of  the  most  learned  of  the  early  Christian  writers — such 
as  Cassiodore,  Lactantius,  Eusebius,  St.  Jerome,  and  St.  Austin. 
This  is  observed  by  Holyday,  who  concludes  his  preface  to  his 
translation  with  these  remarkable  words  :  “  Reader,  be  courte¬ 
ous  to  thyself,  and  let  not  the  example  of  an  heathen  condemn 
thee,  but  improve  thee.” 


PROLOGUE  TO  SATIRE  I. 


ARGUMENT. 

“The  design  of  the  author  was  to  conceal  his  name  and  quality. — He  lived 
in  the  dangerous  times  of  Nero,  and  aims  particularly  at  him  in  most  of 
his  Satires  :  for  which  reason,  though  he  was  of  equestrian  dignity,  and 
of  a  plentiful  fortune,  he  would  appear,  in  this  Prologue,  but  a  beggarly 
poet,  who  writes  for  bread.  After  this  he  breaks  into  the  business  of  tho 
first  Satire,  which  is  chiefly  to  decry  the  poetiy  then  in  fashion,  and  th® 
impudence  of  those  who  were  endeavouring  to  pass  their  stuff  upon  th® 
world.”  Drydbn. 

I  have  neither  moistened  my  lips  with  the  Caballine  fountain. 

Nor  to  have  dreamed  in  two-headed  Parnassus, 

Do  I  remember,  that  thus  I  should  suddenly  come  forth  a  poet. 

Both  the  Heliconides,  and  pale  Pirene, 

I  leave  to  those,  whose  images  the  pliant  ivy-boughs  * 

Touch  softly.  I,  half  a  clown, 

Bring  my  verse  to  the  consecrated  repositories  of  the  poets. 
Who  has  expedited  to  a  parrot  his  x«<p£  ? 

And  taught  magpies  to  attempt  our  words? 

A  master  of  art,  and  a  liberal  bestower  of  genius,  w 

The  belly,  cunning  to  follow  denied  words. 

But  if  the  hope  of  deceitful  money  should  glitter, 

Raven-poets,  and  magpie-poetesses, 

You  may  imagine  to  sing  Pegaseian  melody. 


SATIRE  I. 


ARGUMENT. 

This  Satire  opens  in  form  of  a  dialogue  between  Persius  and  a  friend. — 
We  may  suppose  Persius  to  be  just  seated  in  his  study,  and  beginning 
to  vent  his  indignation  in  satire.  An  acquaintance  comes  in,  and,  on  hear¬ 
ing  the  first  line,  dissuades  the  poet  from  an  undertaking  so  dangerous  ;  ad¬ 
vising  him,  if  he  must  write,  to  accommodate  his  vein  to  the  taste  of 
the  times,  and  to  write  like  other  people. 

Persius  acknowledges,  that  this  would  be.  the  means  of  gaining  applause ;  but 
adds,  that  the  approbation  of  such  patrons  as  that  compliance  would 
recommend  him  to  was  a  thing  not  to  be  desired. 

After  this,  he  exposes  the  wretched  taste  which  then  prevailed  in  Romet 
both  in  verse  and  prose,  and  shews  what  sad  stuff  the  nobles  wrote 
themselves,  and  encouraged  in  others.  He  laments  that  he  dares  not 
speak  out,  as  Lucilius  and  Horace  did — but  it  is  no  very  difficult  matter 
to  perceive  that  he  frequently  aims  at  the  emperor  Nero. 

He  concludes,  with  a  contempt  of  all  blockheads,  and  says,  that  the  only 
readers,  whose  applause  he  courts,  must  be  men  of  virtue  and  sense. 

PERSIUS.  MONITOR. 

P.  O  the  cares  of  men  !  O  how  much  vanity  is  there  in  things  ! 

M.  Who  will  read  these  ?  P.  Do  you  say  that  to  me  ? 

M.  Nobody,  truly.  P.  Nobody  ? 

M.  Perhaps  two,  perhaps  nobody ;  it  is  a  shameful  and  lamen¬ 
table  thing.  P.  Wherefore  ? 

Lest  Polydamas  and  the  Troiads  should  prefer  Labeo 

To  me  ? — trifles !  do  not,  if  turbid  Rome  should  disparage 

Any  thing,  agree  with  it,  nor  correct  a  false  balance 

By  that  scale :  seek  not  thyself  out  of  thyself. 

For  at  Rome  who  does  not — ?  Ah,  if  I  might  say! — But  I 
may 

Then  when  I  have  beheld  greyness,  and  that  our  grave  way  of 
life. 

And  whatever  we  do  after  our  playthings  are  left ;  1# 

When  we  have  the  relish  of  uncles — then,  then  forgive.  M.  I 
will  not. 

P.  What  shall  I  do  ?  for  I  am  a  great  laughter  with  a  petulant 
spleen. 

M.  We  write  shut  up.  One  numbers,  another  prose, 


Sat.  i.] 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


129 


Something  grand. — P.  Which  lungs,  large  of  air,  may  breathe. 

Doubtless  these  to  the  people,  comb’d,  and  with  a  new  gown, 
White,  and  lastly  with  a  birth-day  sardonyx, 

You  will  read,  in  a  high  seat,  when  with  a  liquid  gargle  you 
have  wash’d 

Your  moveable  throat,  and  effeminate  with  a  lascivious  eye: 
Here,  neither  in  a  modest  manner,  nor  with  a  serene  voice, 

You  may  see  the  great  Titi  tremble,  when  the  verses  enter  the 
loins, 

And  when  the  inwards  are  scratch’d  with  the  tremulous  verse. 

Dost  thou,  O  old  man,  collect  food  for  the  ears  of  others  ? 

For  ears,  to  which  even  thou,  in  skin  destroy’d  may’st  say — 

“  Enough.” 

“For  what  purpose  to  have  learnt,  unless  this  ferment,  and 
“  what  once  2S 

“  Is  within  innate,  the  wild  fig-tree,  should  come  forth  from  the 
“bursten  liver?” 

Lo,  paleness  and  old-age !  O  manners !  is  your  knowing, 
then, 

Altogether  nothing,  unless  another  should  know  that  you  know  ' 
it  ? 

“  But  it  is  pleasant  to  be  shewn  with  the  finger,  and  to  be 
“  said — This  is  he.” 

“  For  thee  to  have  been  the  exercises  of  an  hundred  curl-pates, 

“  Dost  thou  esteem  as  nothing  ?”  Lo,  among  their  cups,  the 
satiated 

Romans  inquire,  what  divine  poems  may  relate. 

Here,  some  one,  who  has  round  his  shoulders  a  hyacinthine 
cloak, 

(Having  spoken  something  rankish  from  a  snuffling  nostril,) 

If  he  hath  gently  sung  Phyllises,  Hypsipylse,  and  some  lamen¬ 
table  matter 

Of  the  poets,  supplants  words  with  a  tender  palate, 

The  men  have  assented :  now  are  not  the  ashes  of  that  poet 
Happy  ?  now  does  not  a  lighter  hillock  mark  his  bones  ? 

The  guests  praise  :  nor  will  there  not  from  those  manes, 

Nor  will  there  not  from  the  tomb,  and  the  fortunate  ember, 

Violets  spring  up  ? — You  laugh,  says  he,  and  too  much  indulge  4L 
Your  hooked  nostrils.  Will  there  be,  who  can  refuse  to  be 
willing 

To  have  deserved  the  countenance  of  the  people?  and,  having 
spoken  things  worthy  of  cedar, 

To  leave  verses  fearing  neither  little  fishes,  nor  frankincense  ? 

Whoever  thou  art,  O  thou,  whom  I  just  now  made  to  speak 
on  the  adverse  part, 


# 


i 


130  PERSIUS’S  SATIRES.  [Sat.i. 

I,  when  I  write,  if  haply  something  more  apt  comes  forth,  4* 
(Since  this  is  a  rare  bird,)  yet  if  something  more  apt  comes  forth, 
Would  not  fear  to  be  praised ;  nor  indeed  are  my  inwards  so 
horny. 

But  to  be  the  end  extreme  of  right  I  deny 
Your  “  Well  done !”  and  your  “  O  fine !”  for  examine  this  whole 
“  O  fine,” 

What  has  it  not  within  ?  Is  not  the  Iliad  of  Accius  here,  50 
Drunk  with  hellebore  ?  Is  there  not,  if  crude  nobles  have  dic¬ 
tated 

Any  little  elegies  ?  Is  there  not,  lastly,  whatever  is  written 
In  citron  beds  ? — You  know  how  to  place  a  hot  sow’s-udder;  ' 
You  know  to  present  a  shabby  client  with  a  worn  garment; 
And  “J  love  truth  (say  you);  (ell  me  the  truth  concerning  me.” 

How  is  it  possible? — Would  you  have  me  say  it?  you  trifle, 
when,  O  bald  head, 

Your  fat  paunch  stands  forth  with  a  hanging-down  foot  and 
an  half. 

O  Janus!  whom  no  stork  pecks  behind  your  back, 

Nor  has  the  moveable  hand  imitated  white  ears, 

Nor  so  much  of  the  tongue,  as  an  Appulian  bitch  when  athirst. 
Ye,  O  patrician  blood,  whose  condition  it  is  to  live  with  61 
The  hinder  part  of  the  head  blind,  prevent  flouts  behind  your 
backs ! 

What  is  the  speech  of  the  people? — What  forsooth,  unless 
that  the  verses 

Now  at  last  flow  with  soft  measure,  so  that,  across  the  polish, 
the  joining 

May  pour  forth  severe  nails.  He  knows  how  to  extend  a  verse, 
Not  otherwise  than  if  he  should  direct  the  rubric  with  one  eye; 
Whether  the  work  is  on  manners,  on  luxury,  or  the  dinners  of 
kings, 

The  Muse  gives  our  poet  to  say  great  things. 

Behold  now  we  see  those  bring  heroic  thoughts, 

Who  used  to  trifle  in  Greek,  nor  to  describe  a  grove  70 

Skilful;  nor  to  praise  a  fertile  country,  where  are  baskets, 

And  a  fire-hearth,  and  swine,  and  the  feasts  of  Pales  smoky 
with  hay : 

From  whence  Remus,  and  thou,  O  Q.uintius,  wearing  coulters 
in  a  furrow, 

Whom  thy  trembling  wife  clothed  dictator  before  the  oxen, 

And  thy  ploughs  the  lictor  carried  home.  Well  done,  O  poet !  T* 

There  is  now,  whom  the  veiny  book  of  Brisaean  Accius; 
There  are  those  whom  both  Pacuvius,  and  rugged  Antiopa 
Might  detain,  having  propp’d  her  mournful  heart  with  sorrows. 


# 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


131 


Sat.  i.] 


When  you  see  blear-eyed  fathers  pour  these  admonitions  into 
Their  children,  do  you  seek  whence  this  bombast  manner  of 
speaking  80 

Came  on  their  tongues  ?  Whence  that  disgrace,  in  which 
The  smooth  Trossulus  exults  to  thee  thro’  the  benches? 

Does  it  nothing  shame  you,  not  to  be  able  to  drive  away  dan¬ 
gers  from 

Your  grey  head,  but  you  must  wish  to  hear  this  lukewarm — 
Decently  ? 

Thou  art  a  thief  (says  one  to  Pedius) — What  Pedius?  his 
crimes  9S 

He  weighs  in  polished  antitheses :  to  have  laid  down  learned 
figures 

He  is  praised:  this  is  fine! — this  is  fine?  0  Romulus,  do  you 
wag  the  tail  ? 

For  if  a  shipwreck’d  mariner  sings,  could  he  move  me,  and  a 
penny 

Should  I  bring  forth?  do  you  sing,  when  yourself  painted  on  a 
broken  plank 

You  carry  from  your  shoulder  ?  A  true  (misfortune),  not  pre¬ 
pared  by  night,  50 

He  shall  deplore,  who  would  bend  me  by  his  complaint. 

M.  But  there  is  beauty  and  composition  added  to  crude  num¬ 
bers. 

P.  Thus  hath  he  learnt  to  conclude  a  verse :  “  Berecynthian 
Attin, 

“And  the  dolphin  which  divided  cserulean  Nereus — 

“Thus  we  removed  a  rib  from  the  long  Apennine.”  91 

M.  “Arms  and  the  man” — is  not  this  frothy,  and  with  a  fat 
bark  ? 

P.  As  an  old  bough  dried  with  a  very  large  bark. 

M.  What  then  is  tender,  and  to  be  read  with  a  loose  neck  ? 

P.  “They  filled  their  fierce  horns  with  Mimallonean  blasts, 

“  And  Bassaris,  about  to  take  away  the  head  snatched  from  the 
“  proud  100 

“  Calf,  and  Mamas,  about  to  guide  a  lynx  with  ivy, 

“  Redoubles  Evion  :  the  reparable  echo  sounds  to  it.” 

Would  these  be  made,  if  any  vein  of  our  paternal  manliness 
Lived  in  us  ?  This  feeble  stuff,  on  the  topmost  spittle, 

Swims  in  the  lips,  and  in  the  wet  is  Maenas  and  Attys.  10i 
Nor  does  he  beat  his  desk,  nor  taste  his  gnawn  nails. 

M.  But  where’s  the  need  to  grate  tender  ears  with  biting 
truth  ? 

See  to  it,  lest  haply  the  thresholds  of  the  great 


132 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  i. 


Should  grow  cold  to  you :  here  from  the  nostrils  sounds  the 
canine  letter —  109 

P.  For  my  part,  truly,  let  every  thing  be  henceforward  white. 

I  hinder  not.  O  brave !  all  things,  ye  shall  all  be  very  won¬ 
derful. 

This  pleases. — Here,  say  you,  I  forbid  that  any  should  make  a 
pissing  place : 

Paint  two  snakes :  boys,  the  place  is  sacred :  without 
Make  water — I  depart. — Lucilius  cut  the  city, 

Thee,  Lupus,  thee  Mutius;  and  he  brake  his  jaw-tooth  upon 
them. 

Sly  Horace  touches  every  vice,  his  friend  laughing : 

And  admitted  round  the  heart,  plays 

Cunning  to  hang  up  the  people  with  an  unwrinkled  nose. 

Is  it  unlawful  for  me  to  mutter  ?  neither  secretly,  nor  with  a 
ditch  ?  M.  No  where. 

P.  Nevertheless  I  will  dig  here.  “I  have  seen,  I  myself  have 
seen,  O  little  book: —  120 

“  Who  has  not  the  ears  of  an  ass  ?”  I  this  this  hidden  thing, 
This  laugh  of  mine,  such  a  nothing,  I  sell  to  thee  for  no 
Iliad.  O  thou  whosoever  art  inspired  by  bold  Cratinus, 

Art  pale  over  angry  Eupolis,  with  the  very  great  old  man, 
These  too  behold :  if  haply  any  thing  more  refined  you  hear, 
Let  the  reader  glow  towards  me  with  an  ear  evaporated  from 
thence.  1,6 

Not  he,  who  delights  to  sport  on  the  slippers  of  the  Grecians, 
Sordid,  and  who  can  say  to  the  blinkard,  thou  blinkard : 
Thinking  himself  somebody;  because,  lifted  up  with  Italian 
honour, 

An  sedile  he  may  have  broken  false  measures  at  Aretium. 

Nor  who,  arch,  knows  to  laugh  at  the  numbers  of  an  accounta¬ 
ble,  181 

And  bounds  in  divided  dust ;  prepared  to  rejoice  much, 

If  petulant  Nonaria  should  pluck  a  Cynic’s  beard. 

I  give  to  these,  in  the  morning,  an  edict;  after  dinner,  Callirhoe. 


SATIRE  II. 


ARGUMENT.  ' 

It  being  custoraaiy  among  the  Romans  for  one  friend  to  send  a  present  to 
another  on  his  birth-day — Persius,  on  the  birth-day  of  his  friend  Macri- 
nus,  presents  him  with  this  Satire,  w.hich  seems  (like  Juv.  Sat.  x.)  to  be 
founded  on  Plato’s  dialogue  on  prayer,  called  The  Second  Alcibiades. 

The  Poet  takes  occasion  to  expose  the  folly  and  impiety  of  those,  who, 
thinking  the  gods  to  be  like  themselves,  imagined  that  they  were  to  be 
bribed  into  compliance  with  their  prayers  by  sumptuous  presents ;  where¬ 
as,  in  truth,  the  gods  regard  not  these,  but  regard  only  the  pure  intention 
of  an  honest  heart. 

In  the  course  of  this  Satire,  which  seems  to  have  given  occasion  to  the 
tenth  Satire  of  Juvenal,  Persius  mentions  the  impious  and  hurtful  re¬ 
quests  which  men  make,  as  well  as  the  bad  means  which  they  employ 
to  have  their  wishes  fulfilled. 

The  whole  of  this  Satire  is  very  grave,  weighty,  and  instructive;  and,  like 
that  of  Juvenal,  contains  sentiments,  more  like  a  Christian  than  an  hea¬ 
then. 

Bishop  Burnet  says,  that  “  this  Satire  may  well  pass  for  one  of  the  best 
lectures  in  divinity.” 

TO  PLOTIUS  MACRINUS. 

This  day,  Macrinus,  number  with  a  better  stone, 

Which,  white,  add  to  thee  sliding  years. 

Pour  out  wine  to  your  genius.  You  do  not  ask  with  mercenary 
prayer, 

Which  you  cannot  commit  unless  to  remote  gods : 

But  a  good  part  of  our  nobles  will  offer  with  tacit  censer.  * 

It  is  not  easy  to  every  one,  their  murmur,  and  low  whispers 

To  remove  from  the  temples,  and  to  live  with  open  prayer. 

“A  good  mind,  reputation,  fidelity ;  these  clearly,  that  a  stranger 
may  hear. 

Those  inwardly  to  himself  and  under  his  tongue  he  mutters 
— “O  if 

“The  pompous  funeral  of  my  uncle  might  bubble  up?  O  if  10 

“Under  my  rake  a  pot  of  silver  may  chink,  Hercules  being  pro- 
“  pitious 

“  To  me !  or  my  ward,  whom  I  the  next  heir 


134  PERSIUS’S  SATIRES,  [Sat,  ii. 

a  Impel,  I  wish  I  could  expunge  !  for  he  is  scabby,  and  with 
“sharp  '  < 

“Bile  he  swells.  A  third  wife  is  already  married  by  Nerius.” 
That  you  may  ask  these  things  holily,  in  the  river  Tiber  you 
dip  u 

Your  head  in  the  morning  two  or  three  times,  and  purge  the 
night  with  the  stream. 

Consider,  mind,  answer,  (it  is  a  small  thing  which  1  labour  to 
know,) 

What  think  you  of  Jove?  he  is,  that  you  would  care  to  prefer 
Him  to  any  one  ?  to  whom  ?  will  you  to  Staius  ?  what ! — do 
you  doubt?  .  x* 

Who  is  the  better  judge?  who  the  fittest  for  orphan  children  ? 
This,  therefore,  with  which  you  try  to  persuade  the  ear  of  Jove, 
Come,  say  it  to  Staius:  O  Jupiter!  O  good  Jupiter!  would  he 
cry: 

And  may  not  Jupiter  cry  out  upon  himself  ? 

Do  you  think  him  to  have  forgiven,  because,  when  he  thunder, 
the  oak  sooner 

Is  thrown  down  by  the  sacred  sulphur,  than  both  you,  and  your 
house  ? 

Or  because,  with  the  bowels  of  sheep,  Ergenna  commanding, 
You  do  not  lie  a  sad,  and  to-be-avoided  bidental,  in  the  groves, 
Therefore  does  Jupiter  offer  you  his  foolish  beard  to  pluck? 

Or  what  is  it  ?  with  what  reward  hast  thou  bought' the  ears 
Of  the  Gods?  with  lungs,  and  with  greasy  entrails?  ** 

Lo !  a  grandmother,  or  an  aunt  fearing  the  gods,  from  the 
cradle 

Takes  a  boy,  and  his  forehead  and  his  wet  lips, 

With  an  infamous  finger,  and  with  purifying  spittle,  she  before¬ 
hand 

Expiates,  skilled  to  inhibit  destructive  eyes. 

Then  shakes  him  in  her  hands,  and  her  slender  hope,  with 
suppliant  wish,  14 

She  now  sends  into  the  fields  of  Licinius,  now  into  the  houses 
of  Crassus. 

“  May  a  king  and  queen  wish  this  boy  their  son-in-law  ;  “may 
“  the  girls 

“Seize  him;  whatever  he  shall  have  trodden  upon,  may  it 
“  become  a  rose  ! 

But  to  a  nurse  I  do  not  commit  prayer:  deny, 

O  Jupiter,  these  to  her,  tho’  cloth’d  in  white  she  should  ask.  * 
You  ask  strength  for  your  nerves,  and  a  body  faithful  to 
old  age : 

Re  it  so — go  on :  but  great  dishes,  and  fat  sausages, 


I 


Sat.  ii.]  PERSIUS’S  SATIRES.  135 

Have  forbidden  the  gods  to  assent  to  these,  and  hinder  Jove. 
You  wish  heartily  to  raise  a  fortune,  an  ox  being  slain,  and 
Mercury 

You  invite  with  inwards — “  grant  the  household  gods  to  make 
“  me  prosperous  !  4f 

u  Give  cattle,  and  offspring  to  my  flock !” — Wretch,  by  what 
means, 

When  the  cauls  of  so  many  young  heifers  can  melt  for  you  in 
flames  ? 

And  yet  this  man  to  prevail  with  bowels,  and  with  a  rich 
pudding 

Intends  :  “  How  the  field  increases,  now  the  sheep-fold — 

“  Now  it  shall  be  given,  now  presently  till  deceived,  and 
hopeless,  f9 

In  vain  the  nupimus  will  sigh  in  the  lowest  bottom. 

If  to  thee  cups  of  silver,  and  gilts  wrought  with  rich  gold 
I  should  bring,  you  would  sweat,  and  from  your  left  breast 
Shake  out  drops — your  over-trembling  heart  would  rejoice. 
Hence  that  takes  place,  that  with  gold  carried  in  triumph  you 
Overlay  the  sacred  faces.  For,  among  the  brazen  brothers,  ** 
Let  those  who  send  dreams  most  purged  from  phlegm 
Be  the  chief,  and  let  them  have  a  golden  beard. 

Gold  has  driven  away  the  vessels  of  Numa,  and  the  Saturi- 
nian  brass, 

And  changes  the  vestal  urns,  and  the  Tuscan  earthen-ware.  64 
O  souls  bowed  to  the  earth — and  void  of  heavenly  things! 
What  doth  this  avail,  to  place  our  manners  in  the  temples, 

And  to  esteem  things  good  to  the  gods  out  of  this  wicked 
pulp  ? 

This  dissolves  for  itself  Cassia  in  corrupted  oil, 

And  hath  boiled  the  Calabrian  fleece  in  vitiated  purple.  •* 
This  has  commanded  to  scrape  the  pearl  of  a  shell,  and  to  draw 
the  veins 

Of  the  fervent  mass  from  the  crude  dust. 

This  also  sins,  it  sins  :  yet  uses  vice.  But  ye, 

O  ye  priests,  say  what  gold  does  in  sacred  things? 

Truly  this,  which  dolls  given  by  a  virgin  to  Venus.  70 

But  let  us  give  that  to  the  gods,  which,  to  give  from  a  great 
dish, 

The  blear-eyed  race  of  great  Messala  could  not — 

What  is  just  and  right  disposed  within  the  soul,  and  the  sacred 
recesses 

Of  the  mind,  and  a  breast  imbrued  with  generous  honesty — 
These  give  me,  that  1  may  bring  to  the  temples,  and  I  will 
sacrifice  with  meal.  71 


SATIRE  III. 


ARGUMENT. 

Persius  in  this  Satire,  in  the  person  of  a  Stoic  preceptor,  upbraids  the  young 
men  with  sloth,  and  with  neglect  of  the  study  of  philosophy.  He  shews 
the  sad  consequences  which  will  attend  them  throughout  life,  if  they  do 
not  apply  themselves  early  to  the  knowledge  of  virtue. 

The  title  of  this  Satire,  in  some  ancient  manuscripts,  was,  “The  Reproach 
of  Idleness;”  though  in  others  it  is  inscribed,  “  Against  the  Luxury  and 
Vices  of  the  Rich  — in  both  of  which  the  poet  pursues  his  intention, 
but  principally  in  the  former. 

u  What — these  things  constantly  ?  Already  the  clear  morning 
“  enters 

“  The  windows,  and  extends  with  light  the  narrow  chinks. 

£<  We  snore,  what  to  digest  untamed  Falernan 
“  Might  suffice :  the  line  is  already  touched  with  the  fifth 
shadow 

11  Lo  !  what  do  you  ?  the  mad  dog-star  the  dry  harvests  5 

“  Long  since  is  ripening,  and  all  the  flock  is  under  the  “  spread- 
“  ing  elm.” 

Says  one  of  the  fellow-students — “  It  is  true  ?  It  is  so  ?  Quick 
“  let  somebody 

“Come  hither — Is  there  nobody  ?” — vitreous  bile  swells. 

“  I  am  split “  that  you’d  believe  the  cattle  of  Arcadia  to  bray.” 
Now  a  book,  and  two-coloured  parchment,  the  hairs  being  laid 
aside,  *• 

And  there  comes  into  his  hand  paper,  and  a  knotty  reed. 

Then  he  complains  that  a  thick  moisture  hangs  from  the  pen  : 
That  the  black  cuttle-fish  vanishes  with  water  infused : 

He  complains  that  the  pipe  doubles  the  diluted  drops.  14 

“  O  wretch  !  and  every  day  more  a  wretch  !  to  this  pass 
“  Are  we  come  ?  but  why  do  you  not  rather,  like  the  tender 
dove, 

“  And  like  the  children  of  nobles,  require  to  eat  pap, 

“  And  angry  at  the  nurse,  refuse  her  to  sing  lullaby  ?” — 

“  Can  I  study  with  such  a  pen  ?”  “  Whom  dost  thou  deceive  ? 

“  Why  those 

11  Shifts  do  you  repeat  ?  ’Tis  you  are  beguiled :  thoughtless 

“  you  run  out. 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


137 


Sat.  iii.] 

“You’ll  be  despised.  A  pot,  the  clay  being  green,  not  baked, 
“  answers 

“  Badly,  being  struck,  it  sounds  its  fault. 

“You  are  wet  and  soft  clay;  now,  now  you  are  to  be  hasten’d 
“And  to  be  formed  incessantly  with  a  brisk  wheel.  But  in 
“  your  paternal  estate 

“You  have  a  moderate  quantity  of  corn,  and  a  salt-cellar 
“  pure  and  without  spot.  24 

“  What  can  you  fear  ?  and  you  have  a  dish  a  secure  worshipper 
“  of  the  hearth.” 

“  Is  this  enough  ?  Or  may  it  become  you  to  break  your  lungs 
“with  wind, 

“  Because  you,  a  thousandth,  derive  a  branch  from  a  Tuscan 
“  stock  ? 

“  Or  because  robed  you  salute  the  censor  (as)  yours  ? — 
'‘Trappings  to  the  people— I  know  you  intimately  and  tho- 
“  roughly.  10 

“Does  it  not  shame  you  to  live  after  the  manner  of  dissolute 
“  Natta  ? 

“  But  he  is  stupified  with  vice,  rich  fat  hath  increased  in  his  , 
“  Inwards :  he  is  not  to  blame :  he  knows  not  what  he  may 
“  lose,  and  with  the  deep 

“  Overwhelmed,  he  does  not  bubble  again  at  the  top  of  the  wa- 
“  ter.” 

Great  father  of  gods !  will  not  to  punish  cruel  35 

Tyrants  by  any  other  way,  when  fell  desire 
Shall  stir  their  disposition,  imbued  with  fervent  poison; 

Let  them  see  virtue,  and  let  them  pine  away,  it  being  left. 

Did  the  brass  of  the  Sicilian  bullock  groan  more, 

Or  the  sword  hanging  from  the  golden  ceiling,  did  it  40 

More  affright  the  purple  neck  underneath  ;  I  go, 

“I  go  headlong,”  (than  if  any  one  should  say  to  himself,)  and, 
within 

Unhappy,  should  turn  pale  at  what  his  nearest  wife  must  be 
ignorant  of? 

I  remember,  that  I,  a  little  boy,  often  besmear’d  my  eyes 
with  oil, 

If  I  was  unwilling  to  learn  the  great  words  of  dying  41 

Cato,  much  to  be  praised  by  my  insane  master; 

Which  my  father  would  hear  sweating,  with  the  friends  he 
brought : 

With  reason ;  for  it  was  the  height  of  my  wish  to  know  what 
The  lucky  sice  would  bring,  how  much  the  mischievous  ace 
Would  scrape  off — not  to  be  deceived  by  the  neck  of  the  narrow 
jar—  10 


10 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


138 


[Sat.  nr. 


Nor  that  any  one  should  whirl  more  skilfully  the  top  with  a 
scourge. 

It  is  not  a  thing  unexperienced  to  you,  to  discover  crooked 
morals, 

And  the  things  which  the  wise  portico,  daub’d  over  with  the 
trowser’d  Medes, 

Teaches,  which  the  sleepless  and  shorn  youth 
Watch  over,  fed  with  bean-pods  and  a  great  pudding :  >s 

And  to  thee,  the  letter,  which  hath  serv’d  the  Samian  branches, 
Hath  shewn  the  path  rising  with  the  right-hand  limit. 

Do  you  still  snore  ?  and  does  your  lax  head,  with  loosen’d 
joining, 

Yawn  from  what  happen’d  yesterday,  with  cheeks  unsew’d  in 
all  parts  ? 

Is  there  anything  whither  you  tend?  and  to  what  do  you 
direct  your  bow  ?  60 

Or  do  you  follow  crows  up  and  down  with  a  potsherd  and  mud, 
Careless  whither  your  foot  may  carry  you;  and  do  you  live 
from  the  time? 

In  vain  hellebore,  when  now  the  sickly  skin  shall  swell, 

You  may  see  people  asking  for.  Prevent  the  coming  disease  ; 
And  what  need  is  there  to  promise  great  mountains  to  Cra- 
terus  ?  6* 

Learn,  O  miserable  creatures,  and  know  the  causes  of  things, 
What  we  are,  and  what  we  are  engender’d  to  live :  what  order 
Is  given,  and  by  what  way  the  turning  of  the  goal,  and  of  the 
water,  may  be  easy  : 

What  measure  to  money — what  it  is  right  to  wish — what  rough 
Money  has  that  is  useful.  To  our  country,  aud  to  dear  re¬ 
lations,  7* 

How  much  it  may  become  to  give  :  whom  the  Deity  commanded 
Thee  to  be,  and  in  what  part  thou  art  placed  in  the  human 
system — 

Learn:  -nor  be  envious,  that  many  ajar  stinks 
In  a  rich  store,  the  fat  Umbrians  being  defended, 

And  pepper,  and  gammons  of  bacon,  the  monuments  of  a  Mar- 
sian  client,  T* 

And  because  the  pilchard  has  not  yet  failed  from  the  first  jar. 

Here  some  one  of  the  stinking  race  of  centurions, 

May  say ;  “  What  I  know  is  enough  for  me.  I  don’t  care 
“To  be  what  Arcesilas  was,  and  the  wretched  Solons, 

“With  the  head  awry,  and  fixing  the  eyes  on  the  ground,  8* 
“When  murmurs  with  themselves,  and  mad  silence  they  are 
“gnawing, 

“And  words  are  weighed  with  a  stretch’d-out  lip, 

“  Meditating  the  dreams  of  an  old  sick  man — that  nothing  can 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


139 


Sat.  hi.] 


“  Be  produced  from  nothing ,  nothing  can  be  return'd  into  nothing. 
“Is  this  what  you  study?  Is  it  this  why  one  should  not  dine?”  8i 

The  people  laugh  at  this,  and  much  the  brawny  youth 
Redoubles  the  tremulous  loud  laughs  with  wrinkling  nose. 

“Inspect:  I  know  not  why  my  breast  trembles,  and  from  my 
“  sick 

“Jaws  heavy  breath  abounds:  inspect,  I  pray  you” — 

Who  says  to  a  physician; — being  order’d  to  rest — after  9® 

A  third  night  hath  seen  his  veins  to  run  composed, 

From  a  greater  house,  in  a  flagon  moderately  thirsting, 

He  has  asked  for  himself,  about  to  bathe,  mild  Surrentine. 

“  Ho !  good  man,  you  are  pale.”  “  It  is  nothing.”  “  But  have 
“  an  eye  to  it, 

“Whatever  it  is:  your  yellow  skin  silently  rises.” —  *s 

“  But  you  are  pale — worse  than  I — don’t  be  a  tutor  to  me, 

“  I  have  long  since  buried  him,  do  you  remain  ?” — “  Go  on — 
“  I’ll  be  silent.” 

He,  turgid  with  dainties,  and  with  a  white  belly  is  bathed, 

His  throat  slowly  exhaling  sulphureous  stenches: 

But  a  trembling  comes  on  whilst  at  bis  wine,  and  the  warm 
triental  /  100 

He  shakes  out  of  his  hands ;  his  uncover’d  teeth  crashed, 

Then  the  greasy  soups  fall  from  his  loose  lips: 

Hence  the  trumpet,  the  candLes ;  and,  at  last,  this  happy  fellow, 
on  an  high 

Bed  laid,  and  daubed  over  with  thick  ointments, 

Extends  his  rigid  heels  towards  the  door:  but  him  101 

The  hesternal  Romans,  with  cover’d  head,  sustained. 

“Touch,  wretch,  my  veins,  and  put  your  right  hand  on  my  breast: 
“Nothing  is  hot  here:  and  touch  the  extremes  of  my  feet  and 
“hands: 

“  They  are  not  cold.” — “  If  haply  money  be  seen,  or 
“  The  fair  girl  of  your  neighbour  smile  gently,  n® 

“Does  your  heart  leap  aright? — there  is  placed  in  a  cold  dish 
“  An  hard  cabbage,  and  flour  shaken  thro’  the  sieve  of  the  people  : 
“Let  us  try  your  jaws:  a  putrid  ulcer  lies  hid  in  your  tender 
“  mouth, 

“  Which  it  would  be  hardly  becoming  to  scratch  with  a  plebeian 
“  beet. 

“You  are  cold,  when  white  fear  has  rous’d  the  bristles  on 
“your  limbs:  ns 

“Now,  with  a  torch  put  under,  your  blood  grows  hot,  and  with 
“  anger 

“  Your  eyes  sparkle,  and  you  do  and  say,  what  Orestes  himself, 
“  Not  in  his  sound  mind,  would  swear  was  not  the  part  of  a 
“  man  in  his  right  senses.” 


SATIRE  IY. 

ARGUMENT. 


The  sting  of  this  Satire  is  particularly  aimed  at  Nero;  but  the  Poet  has 
been  cautious,  and  therefore  has  written  it  under  the  notion  of  Socrates 
admonishing  his  pupil,  young  Alcibiades :  under  this  fiction  he  attacks 
Nero’s  unfitness  to  manage  the  reins  of  government,  his  lust,  his  cruel¬ 
ty,  his  drunkenness,  his  luxury  and  effeminacy.  He  also  reprehends 
the  flattery  of  Nero’s  courtiers,  who  endeavoured  to  make  his  vices  pass 
for  virtues.  It  may  be  supposed,  that  our  poet  might  mean  to  represent 
Seneca,  Nero’s  tutor,  under  the  character  of  Socrates,  the  tutor  of  young 
Alcibiadds  ;  and  Nero,  Seneca’s  pupil,  under  the  character  of  Alcibiades. 
Persius  has,  in  this  Satire,  almost  transcribed  Plato’s  first  Alcibiades. 
See  Spectator,  No.  207. 

Do  you  manage  the  bus’ness  of  the  people  ?  (think  the  bearded 
master 

To  say  these  things,  whom  the  dire  portion  of  hemlock  took  off.) 
Upon  what  relying  ?  tell  this,  O  pupil  of  great  Pericles. 

To  be  sure,  genius,  and  quick  foresight  of  things, 

Come  before  hairs :  you  know  well  what  is  to  be  spoken,  and 
what  kept  in  silence.  3 

Therefore  when  the  lower  sort  of  people  grow  warm  with  stirr’d 
bile, 

Your  mind  carries  you  to  have  made  silence  to  the  warm  crowd, 
With  the  majesty  of  your  hand:  what  then  will  you  speak? 
“  Romans, 

“This,  I  think,  is  not  just ;  that  is  badly — that  more  right.” 

For  you  know  how  to  suspend  what  is  just,  in  the  double  scale 
Of  the  doubtful  balance  ;  you  discern  what  is  straight  when 
between  11 

Crooked  things  it  comes,  or  when  a  rule  deceives  with  a  wry 
foot  ; 

And  you  are  able  to  fix  the  black  theta  to  vice. 

But  do  you  therefore  (in  vain  beautiful  in  your  outward  skin) 
Before  the  day,  to  boast  your  tail  to  the  fawning  rabble  13 
Leave  otf,  more  fit  to  drink  up  the  pure  Anticyrse? 

“  What  is  your  sum  of  good  ?” — “  To  have  always  lived  with  a 
“  delicious 

“  Dish,  and  the  skin  taken  care  of  in  the  continual  sun.” — 

“  Stay :  this  old  woman  would  hardly  answer  otherwise. — Go 
“  now — 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


141 


Sat.  iv.] 

“  I  am  of  Dinomache — “  puff  up  — “  I  am  handsome  — “be 
“  it  so :  20 

“  Since  ragged  Baucis  is  not  less  wise  than  you, 

“  When  she  has  well  cried  herbs  to  a  slovenly  slave.” 

How  nobody  tries  to  descend  into  himself!  nobody  : 

But  the  wallet  on  the  preceding  back  is  looked  at. — 

You  may  be  asked — “  Do  you  know  the  farms  of  Vectidius  ?” 

“  Whose  ?”  16 

“  Rich  he  ploughs  at  Cures  as  much  as  a  kite  cannot  fly  over.” 
“  Him  do  you  say  ? — him,  with  angry  gods,  and  an  unlucky 
“  genius, 

“  Who,  whensoever  he  fixes  a  yoke  at  the  beaten  cross-ways, 
“Fearing  to  scrape  off  the  old  clay  of  a  vessel, 

“Groans” — “May  this  be  well!”  “champing,  with  salt,  a 
“  coated  30 

“  Onion,  and  the  servants  applauding  a  mess  of  pottage, 

“  Sups  up  the  mothery  dregs  of  dying  vinegar.” — 

“  But  if  anointed  you  can  loiter,  and  fix  the  sun  in  your  skin, 
“  There  is  nigh  you  one  unknown,  who  may  touch  with  the 
“  elbow,  and  sharply 

“  Spit  down  on  your  manners :  who  by  vile  arts  84 

“Are  making  your  body  smooth  and  delicate. 

“  When  you  can  comb  a  long  anointed  beard 
“  On  your  cheeks,  why  are  you  shorn  elsewhere  ? 

“When,  after  all  the  pains  that  can  be  taken, 

“  Tho’  assisted,  in  the  depilation  of  your  person,  by  40 

“  Five  strong  wrestlers,  you  can  never  succeed. 

“We  lash,  and  in  our  turn  we  expose  our  legs  to  arrows. 

“  Thus  we  live — thus  we  know — under  your  bowels 
“You  have  a  blind  wound :  but  a  belt  with  broad  gold 
“  Covers  it :  as  you  please,  cheat — and  deceive  your  nerves,  4‘ 
“  If  you  can.” — “  When  the  neighbourhood  says  I  am  excellent, 
“Shall  I  not  believe  it?” — “If  money  being  seen,  O  wicked 
“  man,  you  are  pale — 

“If  you  do  whatever  your  lust  prompts  you  to — 

“  If,  cautious,  you  scourge  the  puteal  with  many  a  wale, 

“  In  vain  shall  you  give  your  soaking  ears  to  the  rabble.  40 
“  Reject  what  you  are  not — Let  the  cobbler  take  away  his  gifts : 
“  Dwell  with  yourself,  and  you  will  know  how  short  your  house- 
“  hold  stuff  is.” 


SATIRE  Y. 


ARGUMENT. 

This  Satire  is  justly  esteemed  the  best  of  the  six. — It  consists  of  three 
parts  :  in  the  first  of  which  the  poet  highly  praises  Annaeus  Cornutus, 
who  had  been  his  preceptor,  and  recommends  other  young  men  to  his 
care. — In  the  second  part,  he  blames  the  idleness  and  sloth  of  young  men, 
and  exhorts  them  to  follow  after  the  liberty  and  enfranchisement  of 
the  mind. — Thirdly,  he  shews  wherein  true  liberty  consists,  and  asserts 
that  doctrine  of  the  Stoics,  that  “  a  wise  man  “  only  is  free and  that  a 
slavery  to  vice  is  the  most  miserable  of  all. 

The  Satire  begins  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  Persius  and  Cornutus* 

Persius.  This  is  a  custom  with  poets,  to  ask  for  themselves  an 
hundred  voices, 

And  to  wish  for  an  hundred  mouths,  and  an  hundred  tongues 
for  their  verses : 

Whether  a  fable  be  proposed  to  be  bawled  out  by  the  sad  trage¬ 
dian  ; 

Or  the  wounds  of  a  Parthian  drawing  the  sword  from  his  groin. 

Cornutus.  Wherefore  these  things  ?  or  how  great  pieces  of 
robust  verse 

Dost  thou  thrust  in,  that  it  should  be  meet  to  strive  with  an 
hundred  throats  ? 

Let  those  who  are  about  to  speak  something  great,  gather  clouds 
in  Helicon, 

If  to  any  either  the  pot  of  Progne,  or  if  to  any  that  of  Thyestes 

Shall  be  hot,  often  to  be  supped  on  by  foolish  Glycon. 

Thou  neither,  while  the  mass  is  heated  in  the  furnace,  10 

Pressest  the  wind  with  breathing  bellows;  nor  hoarse,  with 
close  murmur,  [thyself: 

Foolishly  croakest  I  know  not  what  weighty  matter  with 

Nor  intendest  to  break  thy  tumid  cheek  with  a  puff. 

You  follow  the  words  of  the  gown,  cunning  in  sharp  com¬ 
position, 

Smooth  with  moderate  language,  to  lash  vicious  manners  15 

Skilled,  and  to  mark  a  crime  with  ingenuous  sport. 

Hence  draw  what  you  may  say:  and  leave  the  tables  at 
Mycenae, 

With  the  head  and  feet,  and  know  plebeian  dinners. 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


143 


Sat.  v.] 

Pers.  I  do  not  indeed  desire  this,  that  with  empty  trifles  my 
Page  should  swell,  fit  to  give  weight  to  smoke.  28 

Secret  we  speak :  to  you  now,  the  Muse  exhorting, 

I  give  my  heart  to  be  searched,  and  now  a  great  part 
Of  my  soul,  Cornutus,  is  yours,  to  you,  my  gentle  friend, 

It  pleases  me  to  have  shewn;  knock  careful  to  discern  24 

What  may  sound  solid,  and  the  coverings  of  a  painted  tongue. 
For  these  things  I  would  dare  to  require  an  hundred  voices, 
That,  how  much  I  fixed  you,  in  my  inmost  breast, 

I  may  draw  forth  with  pure  voice ;  and  all  this,  words  may 
unseal. 

Which  lies  hid,  not  to  be  told,  in  my  secret  inwards. 

When  first  to  fearful  me  the  guardian  purple  yielded,  30 
And  the  bulla  presented  to  the  girth  Lares  hung  up ; 

When  kind  companions,  and,  with  impunity,  in  the  whole 
Subarra. 

Now  the  white  shield  permitted  me  to  have  thrown  about  my 
eyes, 

And  when  the  journey  is  doubtful,  and  error,  ignorant  of  life, 
Parts  asunder  trembling  minds  into  the  branching  cross- ways, 

I  put  myself  under  you  :  you  undertake  my  tender  years, 
Cornutus,  with  Socratic  bosom.  Then,  dexterous  to  deceive, 
The  applied  rule  rectifies  my  depraved  morals, 

And  my  mind  is  pressed  by  reason,  and  labours  to  be  overcome, 
And  draws,  under  your  thumb,  an  artificial  countenance.  48 
For  I  remember  to  consume  with  you  long  suns, 

And  with  you  to  pluck  the  first  nights  from  feast. 

One  work  and  rest  we  both  disposed  together, 

And  relax  serious  things  with  a  modest  table. 

Do  not  indeed  doubt  this,  that,  in  a  certain  agreement,  4‘ 
The  days  of  both  consent,  and  are  derived  from  one  star. 

Fate,  tenacious  of  truth,  either  suspended  our  times 
With  equal  Libra ;  or  the  hour,  framed  for  the  faithful, 

Divides  to  the  twins  the  concordant  fates  of  both ; 

And  we  together  break  grievous  Saturn  with  our  Jupiter.  58 
I  know  not  what  star  it  is  certainly  which  tempers  me  with  you. 
There  are  a  thousand  species  of  men,  and  a  different  use  of 
things : 

Every  one  has  his  will,  nor  do  they  live  with  one  wish. 

This  man,  for  Italian  merchandizes  under  the  recent  sun, 
Changes  the  wrinkled  pepper,  and  grains  of  pale  cumin :  5i 

Another,  sated,  had  rather  swell  up  with  moist  sleep : 

Another  indulges  in  the  field ;  another  the  die  consumes ;  an¬ 
other 

Is  rotten  for  Venus :  but  when  the  stony  gout 


144 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  v. 


Has  broken  his  joints,  the  branches  of  the  old  beech, 

Then,  that  their  gross  days  have  passed  away,  and  the  gloomy 
light,  60 

And  they  have  late  bewailed  the  life  now  left  to  them. 

But  it  delights  you  to  grow  pale  with  nightly  papers, 

For  a  cultivator  of  youths,  you  sow  their  purged  ears 
With  Cleanthean  corn.  Hence  seek,  ye  young  and  old, 

A  certain  end  to  the  mind,  and  stores  for  miserable  grey 
hairs.  61 

“  To-morrow  this  shall  be  done” — “  the  same  will  be  done 
“  to-morrow” — “  what ! 

“  As  a  great  thing  truly  do  you  give  a  day  ?” — “  but  when 
“  another  day  comes, 

“We  have  already  spent  yesterday’s  to-morrow.  Behold  an¬ 
other  to-morrow, 

“  Has  spent  these  years,  and  will  always  be  a  little  beyond  : 
“For  altho’  near  you,  altho’  under  one  beam,  19 

“You  will  in  vain  follow  the  felly  turning  itself, 

“When  yon,  the  hinder  wheel,  do  run,  and  on  the  second  axle. 

There  is  need  of  liberty  :  not  this,  by  which  every  Publius  in 
the  Yelinan  tribe, 

As  soon  as  he  has  been  discharged,  mouldy  corn  with  his  tally 
Possesses.  Alas  !  ye  barren  of  truth — among  whom  one  turn 
Makes  a  Roman !  here  is  a  Dama,  a  groom  not  worth  three  far¬ 
things  ;  76 

A  scoundrel,  and  blear-eyed,  and  a  liar  in  a  little  corn  ; 

If  his  master  turn  him — in  the  movement  of  a  top,  he  comes 
forth 

Marcus  Dama.  Wonderful !  Marcus  being  security,  refuse  you 
To  lend  money  ?  Are  you  pale  under  judge  Marcus?  *• 
Marcus  said  it — it  is  so. — Sign,  Marcus,  the  tablets. 

This  is  mere  liberty — this  caps  give  us. 

“  Is  there  any  other  free,  unless  he  who  may  live 
“  As  he  likes  ? — I  may  live  as  I  like  ;  am  not  I 
“More  free  than  Brutus  ?” — “You  conclude  falsely,”  says  M 
A  Stoic  here,  having  washed  his  ear  with  sharp  vinegar  ; 

“  I  accept  this  which  is  left,  take  away  that — “  I  may,”  and 
“as  I  will.” 

“  After  I  withdrew  from  the  praetor,  my  own  by  the  wand, 

“  Why  might  I  not  do  whatever  my  will  commanded, 

“  Except  if  the  rubric  of  Masurius  forbad  any  thing  ?”  90 

“  Learn :  but  let  anger  fall  from  your  nose,  and  the  wrinkling 
“  sneer, 

“  While  I  pluck  from  your  breast  your  old  wives’  tales. 

“  It  was  hot  of  the  praetor  to  give  the  delicate  management  of 
“  things 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


145 


Sat.  v.] 

“  To  fools,  and  to  permit  the  use  of  rapid  life — 

“  You  would  sooner  fit  a  dulcimer  to  a  tall  footman.  94 

“  Reason  stands  against  it,  and  whispers  into  the  secret  ear,” 
u  Let  it  not  be  lawful  to  do  that,  which  one  will  spoil  in  do- 
“ing:” —  <  . 

“  The  public  law  of  men,  and  nature,  contains  this  right, 

“  That  weak  ignorance  should  forbear  forbidden  acts. 

“  Do  you  dilute  hellebore,  not  knowing  how  to  confine,  to  a  100 
u  Certain  point,  the  balance  ?  the  nature  of  healing  forbids  this. 
“  If  the  high-shoed  ploughman  should  require  a  ship  for 
“Himself,  ignorant  of  Lucifer,  Melicerta  exclaims,  that  shame 
“Has  perish’d  from  things. — To  live  with  an  upright  ancle 
“  Has  art  given  you  ?  Are  you  skilful  to  distinguish  the  ap- 
“  pearance  of  truth,  104 

“  Lest  any  should  tinkle  false  with  gold  having  brass  under  it? 
“  And  what  things  are  to  be  followed,  and,  in  like  manner,  what 
“  avoided  ? 

“  Have  you  first  mark’d  those  with  chalk,  then  these  with  a 
“  coal ? 

“  Are  you  moderate  of  wish — with  a  confined  household — kind 
“  to  your  friends  ? — 

“  Can  you  sometimes  fasten,  and  sometimes  open  your  grana- 
“  ries  ?  110 

“  And  can  you  pass  by  money  fixed  in  mud, 

“  Nor  swallow  with  your  gullet  mercurial  spittle  ? 

“  When  you  can  truly  say,  these  are  mine,  I  possess  them — 
“  be  thou 

“Free  and  wise,  the  prastors  and  Jupiter  propitious. 

“  But  if  you,  since  you  were  a  little  before  of  our  meal,  115 
“  Retain  your  old  skin,  and,  polished  in  front, 

“  Keep  a  cunning  fox  under  your  vapid  breast : 

“  What  I  had  above  given  I  demand  again,  and  bring  back  the 
“  rope. 

“  Reason  has  granted  you  nothing ;  put  forth  your  finger,  you 
“  sin 

“  And  what  is  so  small  ?  but  you  will  obtain,  by  no  incense,  1M 
“  That  a  small,  half  ounce  of  right  should  be  fixed  in  fools. 

“  To  mix  these  is  impossibility :  nor,  when  as  to  other  things 
“  you  are  a  digger, 

“  Can  you  be  moved  to  three  measures  only  of  the  satyr  Ba- 
“  thyllus.” 

*  I  am  free.” — “  Whence  take  you  this  for  granted,  subjected  by 
“so  many  things ? 

“  Are  you  ignorant  of  a  master,  unless  he  whom  the  wand  re- 
“  laxes  ?  iat 


146 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  v. 


“  Go,  slave,  and  carry  the  scrapers  to  the  baths  of  Crispinus,” 

“  If  he  has  sounded  forth — do  you  loiter  trifler  ?”  “  Sharp 
“  Servitude  impels  thee  nothing,  nor  does  any  thing  enter  from 
“  without 

“Which  may  agitate  your  nerves.  But  if  within,  and  in  a 
“sick  liver 

“  Masters  are  produced,  how  go  you  forth  more  unpunished,  130 
“Than  he,  whom  the  scourge,  and  fear  of  his  master,  has  driven 
“  to  the  scrapers  ? 

“In  the  morning,  slothful,  you  snore  :  “Rise,”  says  Avarice, 
“Rise.” — You  refuse — he  urges — “Rise,”  says  he. — “I  cannot. 
— “Rise.” 

“And  what  shall  I  do?”  do  you  ask? — “Bring  fish  from 
“  Pontus, 

“  Castor,  flax,  ebony,  frankincense,  and  slippery  Coan  wines : 

“  Take  first  the  recent  pepper  from  the  thirsting  camel ;  136 

“Turn  something;  swear.” — “ But  Jupiter  will  hear.” — Alas! 
“  Simpleton,  to  bore  with  your  finger  the  re-tasted  salt  cellar, 

“  Content  you  will  pass  your  time,  if  you  aim  to  live  with 
“  Jove. 

“  Now,  ready,  you  fit  the  skin  to  the  slaves,  and  wine-ves- 
“  sel :  146 

“  Quick  to  the  ship ;  nothing  hinders,  but  in  a  large  ship 
“You  may  hurry  over  the  flEgean  :  unless  sly  Luxury  should 
“Admonish  you  before  seduced” — “Whither  thence,  madman, 
“  do  you  rush  ? 

“  Whither  ?  what  would  you  have  ?  under  your  warm  breast 
“manly  bile 

“  Has  swelled  up,  which  an  urn  of  hemlock  could  not  have  ex- 
“  tinguished.  145 

“Can  you  cross  the  sea?  to  thee  shall  there  be  a  supper  on  a 
“  bench 

“  Propp’d  with  twisted  hemp ;  and  red  Veientane  wine 
“Shall  the  broad-bottomed  jug  exhale,  hurt  with  nasty  pitch  ? 

“  What  seek  you  ?  that  money,  which  here  with  modest  five  per 
“  cent. 

“  You  had  nourished,  should  go  on  to  sweat  greedy  cent,  per 
“  cent.  ? 

“  Indulge  your  genius — let  us  pluck  sweets — It  is  mine 
“  That  you  live :  you  will  become  ashes*  and  a  ghost,  and  a 
“fable. 

“Live  mindful  of  death  ;  the  houh  flies  :  this,  which  I  speak 
“  is  from  thence.” 

“  Lo,  what  do  you  ?  you  are  divided  different  ways  with  a 
“  double  hook. 


Sat.  v.] 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


147 


“  This  do  you  follow,  or  this  ?  By  turns  it  behooves  that  you 
“  go  under, 

“  With  doubtful  obsequiousness,  your  masters :  by  turns,  you 
“  may  wander. 

“  Nor  can  you,  when  once  you  have  withstood,  and  have  refus- 
“  ed  to  obey 

“  An  instant  command,  say  ‘  I  now  have  broken  my  bonds.7 
“  For  also  a  dog,  having  struggled,  breaks  the  knot :  but  to  him, 
“  When  he  flies,  a  long  part  of  the  chain  is  drawn  by  his  neck. 
“  Davus,  quickly  (I  command  that  this  you  believe)  to  finish 
“  griefs  161 

“  Past  I  meditate  ;  (Cha?restratus,  his  raw  nail 
“  Gnawing,  says  these  words)  shall  I,  a  disgrace,  oppose  my 
“ sober 

“  Relations  ?  Shall  I  my  paternal  estate,  with  an  ill  report, 

‘ •  Spend  at  an  obscene  threshold,  while,  before  the  wet  doors 
“  Of  Chrysis,  drunken  I  sing  with  an  extinguished  torch  ?”■ — 
“Well  done,  boy,  be  wise  ;  to  the  repelling  gods  a  lamb 
“  Smite  “  But  think  you,  Davus,  she  will  weep,  being  left  ?” 
“  You  trifle — you  will,  boy,  be  children  with  a  red  slipper, 

“  Lest  you  should  have  a  mind  to  struggle,  and  bite  the  tight 
“  toils :  170 

“  Now  fierce  and  violent ;  but,  if  she  should  call,  without  delay 
“  you  would  say — 

“  What  therefore  shall  I  do  ?  now,  when  she  can  send  for  me 
“and  willingly 

“  Supplicate,  shall  I  not  go  ?”  —“If  whole  and  entire  from  whence 
“  You  had  come  forth,  not  now.” — “  This,  this,  this  is  he  whom 
“  we  seek, 

“  Not  in  the  wand  which  the  foolish  lictor  shakes.  17# 

“  Has  he  the  right  of  himself,  whom  gaping,  with  its  lure, 
“  chalked 

“Ambition  leads?  Watch:  and  heap  vetches  largely  on  the 
“Quarrelling  people,  that  our  feast  of  Flora  sunny  old  men 
“  May  remember :  what  more  glorious  ?  but  when 
“  The  days  of  Herod  have  come,  and  in  the  greasy  window  18# 
“  The  candles  disposed,  have  vomited  a  fat  cloud, 

“Bearing  violets;  and,  having  embraced  a  red  dish, 

“  The  tail  of  a  tunny-fish  swims,  the  white  pitcher  swells  with 
“  wine ; 

“  Silent  you  move  your  lips,  and  fear  circumcised  sabbaths : 

“  Then  black  hobgoblins,  and  dangers  from  a  broken  egg :  1,1 

“  Hence  huge  priests  of  Cybele,  and  a  one-eyed  priestess  with  a 
“  sistrum, 


148 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


[Sat.  t. 


“  Have  inculcated  gods  inflating  bodies,  if  you  have  not 
“  Tasted,  three  times  in  the  morning,  an  appointed  head  of  gar- 
“  lick. 

“If  you  say  these  things  among  the  veiny  centurions, 

“  Immediately  huge  Pulfenius  rudely  laughs,  190 

“  And  cheapens  an  hundred  Greeks  at  a  clipped  centussis.” 


SATIRE  YI. 


ARGUMENT. 

Persius  addresses  this  epistolary  Satire  to  his  friend  Caesius  Bassus,  a  lyric 
poet.  They  both  seem,  as  was  usual  with  the  studious  among  the  Ro¬ 
mans,  in  the  beginning  of  winter,  to  have  retired  from  Rome  to  their  res¬ 
pective  country-houses  ;  Persius  to  his,  at  the  port  of  Luna,  in  Liguria  ; 
Bassus  to  his,  in  the  territories  of  the  Sabines. 

The  Poet  first  enquires  after  his  friend’s  manner  of  life  and  studies,  then 
informs  him  of  his  own,  and  where  he  now  is.  He  describes  himself  in 
his  retirement,  as  quite  undisquieted  with  regard  to  care  or  passions ; 
and  with  respect  to  his  expences,  neither  profuse  nor  parsimonious.  He 
then  treats  on  the  true  use  of  riches  ;  and  shews  the  folly  of  those  who 
live  sordidly  themselves  for  the  sake  of  leaving  their  riches  to  others. 

TO  C^SIUS  BASSUS. 

Has  winter  already  moved  thee,  Bassus,  to  thy  Sabine  fire- 
hearth  ? 

Does  now  the  lyre,  and  do  the  strings,  live  to  thee  with  a  rough 
quill  ? 

Admirable  artist ;  in  numbers  the  beginnings  of  things 
To  have  displayed,  and  the  manly  sound  of  the  Latin  lute; 
Then  to  agitate  young  jokes,  and  with  an  honest  thumb  4 
To  have  played  remarkable  old  men.  To  me  now  the  Ligu¬ 
rian  coast 

Grows  warm,  and  my  sea  is  rough,  where  a  large  side 
The  rocks  give,  and  the  shore  draws  itself  in  with  much  valley, 
“  The  port  of  Luna  it  is  Avorth  while  to  know,  O  citizens 
The  heart  of  Ennius  commands  this,  after  he  ceas’d  dreaming 
that  he  Avas  10 

Maeonides,  the  fifth  from  the  Pythagorean  peacock. 

Here  [am]  I,  careless  of  the  vulgar,  and  what  the  south, 
Unfortunate  to  the  cattle,  may  prepare :  and  unconcerned  be¬ 
cause  that  corner 

Is  more  fruitful  than  mine  that’s  next  to  it :  and  if  all, 

Sprung  from  worse,  should  grow  ever  so  rich,  I  should  always 
refuse,  “ 

On  that  account,  to  be  diminish’d  crooked  with  old  age,  or  to 
sup  Avithout  dainty, 

And  to  have  touched  with  my  nose  the  seal  in  the  vapid  cask. 


150  PERSIUS’S  SATIRES.  [Sat.  hi. 

Another  may  differ  in  these  things;  twins,  O  Horoscope, 
“  with  a  various 

Genius  you  produce.  There  is,  who,  only  on  his  birth-day, 
Wily  can  dip  his  dry  herbs  in  a  cup  with  bought  pickle,  ” 
Himself  sprinkling  on  the  dish  sacred  pepper.  This  a  magna¬ 
nimous  boy 

With  his  tooth  dispatches  a  great  estate. — I  will  use,  I  will  use  : 
Not  therefore  splendid  to  put  turbots  to  my  freedmen, 

Nor  wise  to  know  the  small  state  of  thrushes. 

Live  up  to  your  own  harvest ;  and  your  granaries  (it  is  right) 
Grind  out.  What  can  you  fear  ? — Harrow — and  another  crop 
is  in  the  blade. 

“  But  duty  calls.  With  broken  ship,  the  Bruttian  rocks 
“ A  poor  friend  takes  hold  of,  and  all  his  substance,  and  his  un- 
“  heard  vows 

“He  was  buried  in  the  Ionian  ;  himself  lies  on  the  shore,  and 
“together  [with  him] 

“  The  great  gods  from  the  stern  ;  and  now  obvious  to  the  sea¬ 
gulls  30 

“  Are  the  sides  of  the  torn  ship.” — Now  even  from  the  live  turf 
Break  something;  bestow  it  on  the  poor  man,  lest  he  should 
wander  about 

Painted  in  a  cserulean  table.  “  But  your  funeral  supper  your 
“  heir 

“  Will  neglect,  angry  that  you  have  diminished  your  substance ; 
“To  the  urn 

“  He  will  give  my  unperfumed  bones  :  whether  cinnamons  may 
“  breathe  insipidly,  34 

“  Or  casias  offend  with  cherry-gum,  prepared  to  be  ignorant. 

“  Safe  can  you  diminish  your  goods  ?” — But  Bestius  urges 
The  Grecian  teachers  :  “  So  it  is,  after  to  the  city, 

“  With  pepper  and  dates,  came  this  our  wisdom  void  of  manli- 
“  ness 

“  The  mowers  have  vitiated  their  puddings  with  thick  oil.”  46 

“  Do  you  fear  these  things  beyond  your  ashes  ? — But  thou 
“  my  heir, 

“  Whoever  thou  shalt  be,  a  little  more  retired  from  the  crowd 
“  hear. 

“  O  good  man,  are  you  ignorant  ?  A  laurel  is  sent  from  Caesar 
“  On  account  of  the  famous  slaughter  of  the  German  youth,. and 
“  from  the  altars 

“  The  cold  ashes  are  shaken  off ;  and  now,  to  the  posts,  arms,  44 
“  Now  the  garments  of  kings,  now  sorry  mantles  on  the  captives 
“  And  chariots,  and  huge  Germans,  Caesonia  places. 

“  To  the  gods,  therefore,  and  to  the  genius  of  the  general,  an 


Sat.  vi.] 


PERSIUS’S  SATIRES. 


151 


“  hundred  pair, 

“  On  account  of  things  eminently  achieved,  I  produce :  Who 
“  forbids  ? — Dare  — 

“  Woe  !  unless  you  connive  — Oil  and  pasties  to  the  people  Si 
“  I  bestow ;  do  you  hinder  ? — speak  plainly.” — “Your  field  hard 
“  by, 

“  Say  you,  is  not  so  fertile — Go  to,  if  none  to  me 
“  Now  were  left  of  my  aunts,  no  cousin-german,  no  niece’s 
“  daughter 

“  Remains  ;  the  aunt  of  my  uncle  has  lived  barren,  s* 

“  And  nothing  remains  from  my  grandmother :  I  go  to  Bovillac, 
“  And  to  the  hill  of  Virbius  ;  Manius  is  ready  at  hand  to  be  my 


“  heir” — 

“  An  offspring  of  earth” — “  Inquire  of  me,  who  my  fourth  father 
May  be,  I  should  nevertheless  not  readily  say.  Add  also  one, 
\“  Again  one  ;  he  is  now  a  son  of  earth  :  and  to  me,  by  the  course 
‘  Of  kindred,  this  Manius  comes  forth  almost  my  great  uncle. 

A  You  who  are  before,  why  do  you  require  from  me  the  torch  in 
“  the  race  ?  61 

“  \  am  to  thee  Mercury :  I  a  god  come  hither,  as  he 
“I\painted.  Do  you  refuse  ? — Will  you  rejoice  in  what  is  left? 
“  TNere  is  wanting  something  of  the  sum  “  I  have  diminish- 
ed  it  for  myself, 

“  Binyou  have  the  whole,  whatever  that  is  ;  avoid  to  ask  where 
“that  is  which  6t 

“  Tadits  formerly  left  me,  nor  lay  down  paternal  sayings— 

“  Let  tlie  gains  of  usury  accede  ;  hence  take  out  your  expence. 
“What\s  the  residue?” — “residue! — Now — now — more  ex- 
“  pensively  anoint, 

“  Anoint,  W,  the  pot-herbs.  Shall  there  be  for  me  on  a  festi- 
“  val-\ay  boiled 

“  A  nettle,  Vid  a  smoky  hog’s  cheek  with  a  cracked  ear,  70 
£;  That  that  Vandson  of  yours  should  hereafter  be  stuff’d  with 
“  a  gooses  bowels, 

“  When  his  fotyard  humour  shall  long  to  gratify  itself 
“With  some  la<y  of  quality?  Shall  a  woof  of  a  figure 
“  Be  left  to  me\biit  to  him  shall  a  gluttonous  belly  tremble 
“  with  caul 

“  Sell  your  life  gain  ;  buy,  and  cunning,  search 
n  Every  side  of  tl tk  world  :  let  uot  others  exceed  you 
“  In  applauding  fortfie  Cappadocians  in  a  rigid  cage. 

“  Double  your  estate^’ — “  1  have  done  it : — Now  threefold,  now 
“  to  me  the  fourth  time, 

“Now  ten  times  it  returns  into  a  fold;  mark  down  where  I 
shall  stop, 

“  O  Chrysippus,  the  fout\d  finisher  of  your  own  heap  ” 


7  $ 


t9 


S  a 


i 


DATE  DUE 

- 

■'^msssm 

. -'•iwi'iiiaiftiaiu  ,(1 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.  A. 

m 


■y  I 


